


The Rules of Reincarnation

by Owl_Lady



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Child Abandonment, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Odo centric, Odo is a bitch, Reincarnation, Religious Themes??, Y'all this was supposed to be a happy fic and I fucked up, married fic, odo is a sweetheart, slow burn??, yEAH it's that kinda fic, ~Beetlejuice voice~ This is a fic about death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22882519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owl_Lady/pseuds/Owl_Lady
Summary: There is an ancient hew-mon saying that states "you can't take it with you". It's supposed to warn hew-mons from focusing on materialism and profit. This is idiotic. The Ferengi believe not only that you CAN take it with you, but that the more you take with you the better.Quark can't physically or mentally take Odo into the next life, but damn it all if he isn't going to try. Odo agrees, because there is no way this whole "reincarnation" thing can be real right.Right?(Inspired by tumblr user peacefulspock and their sick art)
Relationships: Odo/Quark (Star Trek)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 35





	The Rules of Reincarnation

**Author's Note:**

> Soooooo this is a thing. I saw some art on Tumblr (https://bit.ly/2PlhveA) and it got me thinking and thinking is dangerous. I wrote this, which was not supposed to be NEAR this long or NEAR this damn depressing. This has literally been sitting open on my laptop for like 5 months under the doc name "Hell Document". Pray for my soul and enjoy.

“I don’t think I’m quite getting it yet can you explain it again” Odo said, leaning over the bar. It was well past closing and everyone had gone home for the night. Well everyone except for Odo and…

“You’d think that since you aren’t solid you’d be less thick!” Said an exasperated Quark. Quark rolled his eyes and he started up again.

“When Ferengi die we get to meet the Blessed Exchequer. Then we use the profit that we earned during our lifetime to bribe our way into the divine treasury. Once we are inside, we use our worldly profits to bid on our next life. The more profit you have, the higher your chances are of getting a good life. This is all supervised by the Celestial Auctioneers” Quark said.

“And if a Ferengi is like you and they don’t have any profit?” Odo asked sarcastically. Quark glared at him.

“A Ferengi with a negative balance is thrown into the Vault of Eternal Destitution ...and my bar is making a nice profit right now thank you very much” Quark spat back at Odo. Odo huffed and rolled his eyes. 

“But what if you are a woman? If you aren’t allowed to earn profit then how are you supposed to buy a new life? Are you just damned from the start?” Odo said. Quark’s grip tightened on the edge of the bar in frustration.

“For the SIXTH time…..no. Females don’t get to bid because they are apart of the life that you are bidding on. When a female dies, they are assigned to a Ferengi life. It’s part of the deal. The better the female the more valuable the life” Quark repeated. Odo nodded. 

“If you can’t afford a new life you go where?” Odo asked. Quark took in a deep breath.

“The Vault of Eternal Destitution”

“And what happens there??”

“We. Don’t. Know”

“Sounds suspicious”

“Some have hypothesized that those in the Vault become females, but most Ferengi believe that you’re just stuck in darkness for eternity” Quark said, his hand coming up to rub his temples.

“But who makes the decision to throw you into the vault?” Odo asked.

“The Blessed Exchequer” Quark said with a sigh, looking past Odo out into space.

“And who are they again?” Odo said. Quark’s face bunched up and he threw his hands up in the air.

“THAT’S IT. I’M DONE. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT THE FERENGI SOOOOOO BADLY GO RENT A HOLOSUITE” Quark yelled, making his way around the counter of the bar, trying to leave. A hand came out and grabbed his arm which made him whip around. Odo hasn’t even left his stool but had extended a gooey noodle-like arm to stop Quark.

“Get your slimy worm arm OFF of me” Quark said. Odo rolled his eyes as he got up from his seat. He slowly retracted his arm as he walked closer to Quark, but never let go of him.

“I don’t have to stand around and be accosted by  _ you.  _ I’ll report you” Quark threatened.

“ **_Quark_ ** _ ” _

_ “ _ **_Odo_ ** _ …... _ see, you aren’t the only one who can do it”

“ **_Qua-“_ **

“Listen, I’m not going to waste my breath trying to teach a brick wall. I’ve been talking for  _ hours  _ and you haven’t listened to anything I’ve said.” Quark whined. Odo rolled his eyes and removed his hand so he could cross his arms.

“Your bar is making around four bars of latinum in profit every night, seven on a good night. That means, with your current debts, that you can probably expect to bribe your way into the Divine Treasury with around 250 bars to bid with. According to Junt, the foremost Ferengi philosopher of his day, this can probably get you a modest life that is neither extremely profitable nor extremely debt-ridden” Odo rattled off while making uncomfortable eye contact with Quark. Quark just stared back at Odo. Odo finished but didn’t look away from Quark.

“I had Nog explain it to me a few days ago and then I did some more research, which cost me 10 slips of latinum I might add” Odo bitched.

“Why?” Quark said in a gentle dumb-founded way that made Odo’s stomach twist.

“Because your society is toxic” Odo replied. Quark’s expression vanished and he rolled his eyes.

“ _ No, you idiot….. _ why did you even go through the trouble?” Quark asked.

“Because you’re always whining about how I don’t appreciate your culture or care about your beliefs” Odo said. 

“But….why did you make me explain it fifty times?” Quark asked. Odo huffed loudly.

“Because I hate you, obviously” He said, trying to conceal the slight smile on his face but failing horribly. Quark smirked back.

“Do you wanna go back to my place tonight?” Quark said, already moving toward the door. 

“I’d rather set myself on fire” Odo said, following after him without hesitation.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


There weren’t many sounds in the room, other than the light beeping of machines and strained breathing coming from the small lump on the bed. It was raining lightly outside, which was quite normal for Ferenginar after the monsoon season. 

Suddenly the still quiet of the night was broken by soft coughs coming from the figure on the bed.

“Quark are you sure you don’t have pneumonia” said a man sitting beside the bed.

“ _ Ferengi _ do  _ not _ get pneumonia” said an old scraggly Quark. The man, Odo, frowned at him. 

“Well, you haven’t stopped coughing in days. I don’t know why you won’t even consider-”

“Because I’m dying Odo….you and I both know that” Quark said with a sigh.

“I don’t exactly know what you expected ...marrying a solid” Quark continued.

“I mean I did my best. 306 is pretty damn old” Quark said with a huff. 

“There were a lot of close calls as I remember” Odo chipped in. Quark’s mouth dropped in surprise.

“And who’s fault is that?” Quark asked offendedly.

“Yours” Odo replied. Quark rolled his eyes crossed his frail arms over his chest.

“You helped” He mumbled under his breath. Odo smirked as lightning crashed and flashed light over Quark’s face. It illuminated every nasty wrinkle and fold that covered his entire face. The years had taken their toll on him, while Odo himself looked no different today than he did over 200 years ago. 

“Quark”

“Odo don’t start…..you’ve never been... _ sappy _ with me before, no need to start now” Quark grumbled.

“But you’re d-”

“So what….everyone dies. Jadzia died. Bashir died…..Rom died, Kira died. Everyone dies and I am no different” Quark said.

“You are to me” Odo said, reaching his head out to grab Quark. Quark huffed.

“As much as Kira?” He said incredulously. 

“I didn’t marry Kira” Odo said.

“Only because she was a lesbian”

_ “ _ **_Quark_ ** _ ” _

“There’s my Odo” Quark said with his devious smile that had not faded with age. Odo stopped mid-tirade and his expression softened. 

“I’m sorry you have to keep doing this” Quark said to him. Odo didn’t understand.

“Watching your friends die” Quark said turning his head to look at Odo. Odo shrugged.

“It’s not too bad. I’d like to get it over with, so if you could hurry up that would be nice” Odo snarked back. Quark huffed out a small laugh.

“A minute ago you were begging me not to die” Quark responded.

“Yes, but then you opened your mouth and I remembered how awful you are” Odo said back. Quark barked out a loud laugh that quickly turned into a cough. It refused to go away so Odo got up and walked over to the replicator in the wall. He punched a few buttons and a glass of water materialized. He brought it over to the still coughing Quark and held the glass to his lips. Quark took his drink, still coughing, and managed to get some of it down. Finally, the cough subsided and Odo set the water down on a side table near the bed. 

“Odo” Quark said. Odo returned back to the side of the bed and sat down on it.

“I know you don’t believe in it…..but when I am born into my next life…..will you look for me?” Quark asked. Odo didn’t know how to respond.

“I know I won’t know who you are or what you mean to me, but I still want you to be there” Quark continued. Odo stayed silent and didn’t say anything back.

“Qua-”

“I just don’t want to be alone again. Before you came into my life no one  _ got  _ me. I lived by myself on a station of lizards and I let people use me, abuse me, and repeat the cycle. And I let everyone do all that because I thought that’s what love was. You changed that. I don’t want that to happen to me this next time. I don’t want to be miserable like I was before you showed up. I know I won’t know who I am, but I won’t be alone. And I know that this is probably cheating the system because I haven't  _ bought  _ happiness in the next life yet but screw the system. I’m a Ferengi, cheating is what we  _ used _ to do-”

“Quark”

“ **What”**

**“** ....I’ll try my best” Odo said, his voice quiet. Quark stopped his rant.

“That’s all I’m asking” He said with a slight smile. Quark lifted his hand and placed it on top of Odo’s. Odo looked down at their hands and shifted his to interlace their fingers. 

“I love you”

“I love you too”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Quark died in his sleep a few days later. Odo woke up and he knew instantly that he was gone. He didn’t move all day and laid with him until he finally convinced himself that something needed to be done.

Quark, like all good Ferengi, was vacuum desiccated. Odo still held services for him, which were less eventful than he had anticipated. Either Quark’s old rivals got over whatever he had done to them or he had outlived them all out of spite. A lot of the attendees were members of Quark’s extended family that he had never bothered to meet. They were mostly arguing about who got all of Quark’s things. Dax had shown up, but now they were Reeme...or Rabede…. or...whatever. Nog was there, with his other siblings, and he looked really shaken up. Odo never really ventured over to them. It felt wrong somehow. Eventually, Nog cornered him and told him how sorry he was. He tried to help him, tell him how he’d managed after his husband died, but Odo didn’t want to hear it. So he just nodded and barely listened until he finally left him alone. 

When it came time to read the will Odo almost considered leaving. He didn’t really want anything and he knew Quark’s “family” were going to be vultures. He did stay mainly because he knew that, if he was here, Quark would yell at him for leaving.

It honestly could have gone worse. Quark wasn’t the richest Ferengi, but being the elder brother to the Nagus had its perks. Most of his profits went to Odo which didn’t really surprise anyone, not that they didn’t fight it. A sizeable amount went to Rom’s children, though Prophets know they didn’t need it. The house that they had been living in on Ferenginar had gone to some cousin who was going to turn it into a vacation home (which made absolutely no sense to Odo but go off I guess). The rest of the home was auctioned off to the highest bidder. Odo did smile a little bit when Nog won all the shares to Quark’s. He probably wouldn’t touch the bar but it was nice to know that it was still in the family. Odo watched as Quark’s life was slowly but surely sold and given away. Odo had only kept two things from their life together. One was a holophoto from their wedding that Quark had kept on his desk in his office and the other was one of Quark’s old suits. It wasn’t his best or most expensive one (the blue one did W O N D E R S) but his red and purple suit. He’d worn the suit when he saw Odo off to live with the Founders….and it was also coincidentally the same suit he was wearing when he came back to the station. Odo had felt dumb taking it off the hanger where it was hung up in the back of the closet. But…. if Quark had kept it so long, he felt like he should as well. 

After the services were over, Odo left. He knew that more than likely he’d never return to Ferenginar. 

He arrived a few days later on Deep Space 4. He didn’t know why here or how long he’d stay, but this was where he needed to be right now. He found the Quartermaster’s office and took out a lease on a small room on one of the far ends of the station. A private place for his bucket…. since he’s back to sleeping in his bucket again. As he walked towards his quarters he passed by one of the shops in the main area of the station. It was a bar. It looks smaller and less ostentatious then Quark’s, but no less seedy. Odo stopped and looked at it. Maybe he should go inside. There were a few different cultures like liked to drink to mark different periods of life or to mourn the loss of a loved one. Maybe he should join.

Odo sat down at the counter of the bar. A few people were milling about drinking, playing a game Odo only half-remembered the rules to. Shortly after he had sat down a Bolian came up to him, polishing a glass.

“What can I get for ya?” They asked. Odo racked his brain for an answer. The most Quark had ever gotten him to drink was a glass of orange juice, and that was only to make sure it wasn’t poisoned.

“Do you want a recommendation?” The Bolian asked. 

“Um….I want a black hole” Odo said, remembering that that might be a drink Quark had talked about once???? The Bolian rolled his eyes.

“Sure thing pal, coming right up” He said as he went to prepare the drink. Odo groaned, yeah he wasn’t going to be coming back here. Odo looked around the bar again. It didn’t look at all like Quark’s which was nice, but discomforting at the same time. It was only one level and was not as focused on gambling and money as Quark’s had been. Someone came through the door and it caused Odo to turn his gaze in that direction. A Starfleet officer was walking in with a friend of theirs. Nothing interesting.

“You looking for someone?” The Bolian asked as he set Odo’s drink down in front of him. Odo paused, then turned to look at his drink. It was a light green, which he thought probably wasn’t right considering he’d ordered a  _ black  _ hole. He turned his eyes up to the bartender, who was far taller and less orange than what he would have preferred.

“Not yet”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Odo had stayed on Deep Space 4 for around fifty years before he left. He hadn’t made friends, in fact, he rarely left his room. He’d only left because they had changed management on Deep Space 4 and they were horrible. They kept trying to become friends with him and he was having none of it. 

Odo didn’t know where to go. So he went to the one place he knew. 

As he stepped onto the Promenade after over a hundred years, he thought that it would feel different but it didn’t. Most everything had changed but the bones of the place felt exactly the same. All of the shops had changed since the last time he had been here. What once had been Garak’s tailoring shop was now a travel agency for the Gamma quadrant. Quark’s was still there, as busy and alive as ever. 

“Constable Odo?” said a small voice from behind him. Odo slowly whipped around and faced them. It was a small Klingon girl. She couldn’t be more than 10 years old. 

“Yes” Odo said. Her face broke out into a large smile. She held out her hand.

“Etela Rozkenko” she said, waiting for him to take her hand. Odo did but still was confused about who this girl was.

“My great-grandfather served with you on this station. Do you remember him?” she asked. Odo nodded, who could forget Commander Worf.

“I do” Odo simply replied.

“Do you still work here?” Etela asked. 

“No, I’m just…” Odo began but didn’t finish. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing here. 

“ **ETELA”** yelled a woman from across the Promenade. A Klingon woman ran up to her and Odo. She took one at Odo and began to drag her daughter away from him. He honestly didn’t blame her. He turned once again to go to the Quartermaster’s office when he was stopped again. This time it was a young Human in a Starfleet uniform. Odo rolled his eyes. He really did not have the time (nor the patience) to deal with Starfleet right now. This….child standing in front of him was trying his best to look nonchalant, but failing miserably.

“Did you….are you Constable Odo?” The child asked.

“Wait no obviously your him, there are no other Changelings in this quadrant…..well besides the Ambassador, but you’re not them...unless you are...which you should really be on Earth instead of her-”

“I’m Odo” Odo said to make them shut up. They smiled and suddenly brought their hand up in a salute.

“It is an honor to meet you, sir. You’re kind of a legend around here” The infant said. 

“I work security, I just got stationed here six months ago” The child babbled.

“I wish you had told us you were coming, we would have done something special. Where are you staying? I’m sure we can get you better roo-”

“I’m fine. I didn’t want to cause a...commotion” Odo said. The toddler nodded his head.

“Oh of course” They said. They looked down at the modest bag Odo was holding and then looked back up at Odo.

“You’re probably tired, do you want me to take you to your rooms?” They said. Odo shook his head.

“I’ll manage” Odo said as he began to walk away from the officer. He’d gotten only a few feet when the child called out for him. 

“Sir” They called out. Odo contemplated not turning around and continuing forward, but he did stop and turn to the child.

“Sir, you do think you could come around security sometime….I’m sure we’d all like to hear your thoughts and advice?” They asked. Odo didn’t say anything for a moment. Odo could count the number of people he had talked to since Quark had died on one human hand. He just wanted to go to his bucket and stay there. 

Then he thought about Jadzia...and Kira….and Quark, and how they’d all be yelling at him right now if they could.

“I’ll see if I have the time” 

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  


‘I’ll see if I have time’ turned into a part-time deputy position. He wasn’t  _ officially _ on staff, but he consulted with the constable and the deputies on staff. It was nice to get back into the groove of doing detective work. He hadn’t done any since he and Quark had retired to Ferenginar. He liked the freedom it gave him. He wasn’t tied down by shifts or morning reports. He could do what he wanted pretty much when he wanted. He didn’t always stay on the station. Sometimes we would go down to Bajor, or even on rare occasions Cardassia, to get away for a few years. 

He’s been doing this for a solid hundred years. He’d purposefully not had any contact with his former life and honestly, he felt better for it.

That is, until today.

Odo wasn’t doing anything majorly important. He was just patrolling the Promenade with Lieutenant Stevens, the current head of security. She was good at her job, but still had a lot to learn.

“Did you hear about Jason and Trixie? Apparently, they got caught in cargo bay 4” She said as they walked. Odo rolled his eyes.

“Were they trying to get caught?” Odo huffed.

“I mean it wouldn’t surprise me” She said.

“Anyways I don’t care” Odo said as he glared hard at a passing teen. Stevens raised her eyebrows.

“Oh really”

“Yes, as hard as it may seem, I find it easy to separate myself from the petty needs of solids” Odo said. Stevens rolled her eyes.

“Oh, so then I’m sure you wouldn’t like to hear about Baji’s illegitimate child that turned up last week” she said with a smirk.

“His  **_what_ ** ” 

As Odo and Stevens walked down the hall, the doors to a nearby docking bay slid open and out walked several passengers from a commuter ship. Odo looked over the crowd trying to pick out any potential offenders. 

Someone caught his eye,

It was a Ferengi, but no one he particularly recognized. But at the same time, he was intimately familiar with him. It stopped Odo dead in his tracks. Stevens kept going on but quickly stopped and turned around to look at Odo. 

“Odo….are you ok?” She asked. Odo couldn’t tear his eyes away from the Ferengi. Was it….

No

That isn’t possible

“Odo”

There is no way that the Divi-

“Odo, what’s wrong” Stevens said again. Odo finally snapped out of his haze and looked at her.

“He’s...Quark” was all the Odo managed to say. Stevens looked confused.

“Who’s Quark?” She asked. Odo didn’t hear her. He started to walk towards Quark. Everything around him bled into nothingness. Odo could hear nothing and see nothing else but the Ferengi in front of him.

150 years

Just as Odo got within range of him, Odo stopped. How? How is this Quark? How did Odo even know this was Quark? He might have just gone crazy. Odo blinked a few times even though his “eyes” didn’t need it. 

Nope, still was Quark beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Was this some Changeling thing he hadn’t been told about? Odo had spent five years living continuously with the Changelings….surely this would have come up. Maybe it didn’t? Maybe they didn’t know? Was this just a weird combination of circumstances that happen when a Changeling spends their life with a Ferengi? Was this a Ferengi thing?!?!!?

Did Odo really care? Quark was right there. He got a second chance, and if Quark was right about his afterlife, then he had an infinite amount of second chances. Odo started walking towards the Ferengi again, this time with a grin spreading across his face.

But before he could get close to him the Ferengi turned around and yelled at someone. Soon after three young Ferengi, who were messing with a nearby unfortunate cat, scrambled to get up. Odo stopped. The children rushed over to Quark and looked at the ground.

“Where is your mother?” Quark asked. The children shrugged. Just as they did, a Ferengi woman draped in a very ostentatious robe stepped into the Promenade. The three young Ferengi zoomed towards her. They nearly knocked her over, which might have caused a major problem since she was heavily pregnant. The woman settled the children and then hobbled over to Quark, who was waiting on her whilst scolding the children.

Odo felt like he could faint

Quark had….a family…..with him.

Sure it wasn’t Quark, but Quark bid on the life. He had  _ fucking _ bid on a life where he had a wife and three kids and….and…

Odo felt himself seething with rage when not-Quark finally noticed him. 

“Can I help you?” He said in a voice that was too close to Quark’s for comfort. Odo looked at him. This...Ferengi...wasn’t that old. Maybe 30-35 at the most. Quark had been dead far longer than that.

He must have missed it

_ shit _

Quark probably hates him, no wonder he went off and got married…...to a  _ woman? _

“No, I’m sorry. You just reminded me of someone I once knew. My mistake” Odo said. Not-Quark sneered at him and dragged his family away from Odo. Odo watched as they all walked away.

He had to do better

He promised Quark he’d at least try to be there and he hadn’t even done that. He’d have to wait for the next life because seeing him with that family nearly knocked him on his ass. 

He had to leave DS9. 

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  


What is the one place Quark would never go, not even in an alternate life?

Starfleet

Odo didn’t hate it as much as he thought he would. He still didn’t subscribe to all of the Federation's “goodwill” beliefs, but that was easy enough to fake. 

In no time Odo was a member of a Federation security team on the bridge of a Starfleet ship. Nowhere near Not-Quark and his ridiculous family. 

He’s been in Starfleet about thirty or so years before he finally became Chief of Security. He attributed that to latent prejudice against Changelings (but it was honestly probably based on the fact that he openly disliked the Federation). It was nice to be back in his original position. His ship, the U.S.S. Miami, was one of the fastest in the fleet. This meant that they were sent on all sorts of hairbrained missions, which Odo didn’t exactly find to his taste. This did mean that Odo saw a lot of interesting cases come across his desk. Impossible murders, torrid love affairs gone wrong, it was almost like living in one of his old Bajoran love stories. 

He even liked his Captain, which was a shock to him. Captain Frelu, a Tellarite woman, kept to herself most of the time and only bothered him when necessary. She didn’t invite him to fake baseball games or take him kayaking. It was lovely. Which is why he didn’t think much of it when she slapped a handful of files down onto his desk in his quarters.

“These are new crew members that are arriving today. I’ve already looked over these files a dozen times, but I want you to look over them and tell me if you see anything suspicious. I don’t need any dead weight or idiots running around my ship” She said. Odo picked up the files and flipped threw them.

Commander Webber; Xenololinguists expert. Two wives, seven children. Boring.

Lieutenant Nozon; Cladistician (whatever the hell that was). No previous record. Suspicious

Ensign Fayavar; Coleopterists (do these people get paid by the letter??). Fresh out of the academy and “ready to serve”.

Lieutenant Vork; Engineer. A few disciplinary measures enacted while he was at the academy, but no trouble since.

  
  


“Nozon gives me pause but I will keep an eye out on all of them just to be safe” Odo said. Captain Frelu nodded.

“We’re picking up one of them in around an hour. I’d like you to help me welcome them on the ship” She said.

“Which one?” Odo asked.

“Webber I think” She replied. Odo rolled his eyes.

“And help him corral his children, I think not” Odo refused. Captain Frelu huffed out a laugh.

“Then it’s an order” She said as she turned to leave his quarters.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“Six to beam up” said the transporter Chief. Odo sighed loudly once again to plainly express his displeasure at being here. The room illuminated as six people suddenly appeared on the transporter pad. Commander Webber stepped off the transporter pad and greeted the Captain. He looked normal enough. Middle-aged, greying, slightly overweight. His children also slowly began to leave the pad. They seemed like hell demons and Odo would have to keep a close watch on them.

“Five to beam up” The transporter Chief said again. Oh damn, there were still more of them to come. The room once again filled with a bright light that quickly died away. Now even more hellspawn were in the room and…..

  
  


Fuck

Odo

Gently

With 

A 

Bat’leth

  
  


Towards the back of the pad was a short man in a blue Starfleet uniform. They had a disgusted look on their face and gave off the impression that they would rather be anywhere but here. 

“Ensign Fayavar….is that you” said the Captain.

Oh sure that might be Ensign Fayavar, Odo thought, but it was also Quark. There he was, plain as day in a blue Starfleet uniform. Fayavar stepped off the platform and saluted the Captain.

“Permission to come aboard”

“You weren’t supposed to board until Starbase 9 Ensign” Odo spoke out of turn. Both Captain Frelu and Fayavar turned to look at him. Odo stiffened his back. The Captain turned her attention back on Fayavar but his eyes did not turn from Odo.

“He is right Ensign, what are you doing on Starbase 39” The Captain asked. The ensign turned back to her and shrugged.

“Why make a second trip halfway across the quadrant” He said with a nervous laugh. The Captain looked at Odo, then she also shrugged.

“Why make the trip?” She said with a slight laugh. 

“Permission granted Ensign”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

“Hello Odo” said the soft voice from the viewscreen. Odo gave a soft slight smile which quickly faded away. On the screen was an older man smiling back at Odo. 

“Hello, Dax” Odo said back.

“Long time no see” He said back. Odo sighed.

“Oh, I understand Odo. Who hasn’t been depressed for almost 200 hundred years before” Dax joked. 

“I’m not depressed” Odo shot back. Dax playfully glared at him.

“Yes you are. No one ghosts everyone they’ve ever known because they are mentally stable” Dax said. Odo rolled his eyes.

“If you are going to lecture me I might as well hang up” Odo said. Dax chuckled.

“Oh no go ahead. You went through all the trouble of finding my number, what’s on your mind” He asked. Odo opened his mouth but hesitated a moment. Dax was going to think he was crazy. When he had known them, they were a scientist. There was no way they were going to buy the “Quark’s been reincarnated” bit. Symbiotes aren’t reincarnations, just memories.

“Oh go ahead take your time, I won’t have to re-join for another five or ten years” He sasses. Odo huffed.

“It’s slightly ridiculous” Odo said. Dax smiled wide.

“Oh do tell” They said. 

“How much do you know about the Ferengi religion?” Odo asked. Dax smiled and held up his hands curled in towards each other.

“The River will provide” He said back. Odo took that as an ‘enough’. 

“I think Quark has been reincarnated” Odo spat out. It was his first time saying it out loud and it was just as ridiculous as when he had first thought it. Dax raised his eyebrows.

“Really?” He asked. 

“I know it’s…..sensational, but I think it’s actually happened….three times at least” Odo continued.

“Sensational? Odo I’m a humanoid-worm hybrid, nothing is ‘sensational’ to me” Dax said with a laugh. Odo hesitated.

“So...you believe me” Odo said. Dax shrugged.

“Why not?” He said. Odo didn’t know whether or not to feel relieved or worried. 

“So what do you think I should do about it?” Odo asked. Dax sighed.

“Well, there are really only two things you can do. You can either do what the Trill do and have no contact with him whatsoever or….you can try to be in his life in whatever way you want” He said. Odo nodded.

“I may have already messed that up?” Odo confessed. Dax suddenly became very exasperated.

“How can you ‘mess’ this up?” He asked.

“I told Quark before he died that….that I’d look for him after he died, but then he actually did die and it….hurt more than I was anticipating. I missed his first reincarnation and during the next incarnation, he got so mad at me that he got a wife and kids to spite me” Odo confessed. Dax stared at Odo.

“Dax” Odo asked after Dax had been silent for 45 seconds.

“I’m sorry Jadzia is screaming at you” Dax said. Odo rolled his eyes.

“On the bright side, I’m not mad at you. Jadzia is but I’m not” Dax said.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how the symbiote works” Odo said.

“Oh so you skip a couple of your ex-husband’s reincarnations and suddenly you’re an expert?” Dax said. Ex-husband was a low blow.

“Dax I just want to know what I should do. I don’t need to feel worse than I already do” Odo said. Dax sighed and leaned back into his chair.

“Odo, you’re talking to a symbiote that’s never really been one for following the rules. I mean….Ezri had a relationship with Worf and Jadzia almost ran off with Kahn. I would tell you to find him every time and cling to him, but that’s not necessarily the right answer. The Symbiosis Commission has their rules for a reason” Dax said.

“But you don’t believe in those rules” Odo replied.

“Certain parts of me don’t agree with them” Dax said. Odo and Dax sat in silence for a long while. Odo not knowing what to do and Dax not knowing much more than that.

“Odo” Dax finally spoke up. 

“You made a promise to Quark, in the full belief that you were just reassuring a dying man. Now…. you can either keep your promise and possibly make the rest of your life miserable or do your best to stay away from him...and continue to be miserable” Dax began.

“I’m not miserable” Odo shot back, annoyed at it being brought up again.

“Odo, I’ve lost 5 spouses….it’s never easy and you are never ok after it.” Dax told him. Odo didn’t reply.

“This is a decision you have to make for yourself” Dax said. Then the screen went blank. Leave it to Dax to make a dramatic exit. 

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  


Odo was trudging towards the bridge for the start of his shift. Odo had sat alone in his quarters for a long time last night after Dax had hung up. He had made a promise to Quark, but Ensign Fayavar (and that other Ferengi) were decidedly NOT Quark. Eventually, he had come to a decision by asking himself one question.

Could he live the rest of his life without ever mentioning Quark again?

He had wrestled with the question for a long time. Not necessarily because he didn’t know the answer, but more because he didn’t want to admit that he knew his answer. 

He entered the bridge just as a hail came in.

“Captain, I’ve lost contact with the other landing party. I’ve tried to hail them on all frequencies but they still won’t answer” First Officer Brody responded. 

“We’ll scan for them up here” Captain Frelu answered. Odo went to his post and looked down at his console.

Two three person landing parties had beamed down to the surface of Indri VIII to catalog the planet’s various different species of flora and fauna. Nothing too unusual. They probably got caught up in some storm or more likely they are too  _ fascinated  _ by some plant that they are too busy to respond.

“I’m picking up a faint life sign about six miles from the landing parties last known position” said the Ops officer. The Captain tilted her head. 

“Odo, see if you can find a signal there” The Captain ordered. Odo adjusted the levels on his workstation and tried to tap into any frequencies.

“Captain, I believe that most of their comms have been damaged somehow, but I think I’ve managed to get a signal through to one of them” Odo explained as he opened the channel.

The sound of pained shallow breathing filled the bridge. 

“Transporter room we have a medical emergency can you beam up the second landing party into the medbay”

The breathing stopped.

“I’ll try Captain but I can’t detect any lifesigns” The Chief said. 

“Try anyways” The Captain said sternly.

“Medbay you have six people coming in, they are showing no life signs, fix that” 

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“Did any of the landing party make it?” Captain Frelu asked in her ready room to the officers standing before her. Doctor Jica sighed.

“No” They said somberly. Captain Frelu smacked her hand down on her desk. 

“What killed them?” She asked. Doctor Jica shrugged.

“Who knows. It looks like it was some kind of animal attack, but we have no idea what kind of animals are down there. My guess is that they were scanning it and it attacked them” Doctor Jica said. 

“Did they not have their phasers on them?” The Captain asked.

“They did and the phasers register that shots were fired. They might have wounded the animal or it’s hide is resistant to phaser fire” Odo spoke up. The Captain nodded in acknowledgment.

“Who all did we lose today?” The Captain asked. 

“Wong and Holt from security, McGuire, Yooke, and Spirbeerr in the biology department...oh and the new ensign in zoology” First Officer Brody said solemnly. Odo’s heart dropped, surely not.

“The Ferengi one?” The Captain asked.

“Fayavar” Odo shuddered out.

“Yeah, him” Brody affirmed. Odo felt like passing out. He definitely felt himself melt slightly. 

Again

He’d lost him again

Whatever was happening around Odo slowly faded away into mindless background mumbling. He’d spent so much time trying to figure out if he wanted to be with Quark or if it was worth the risk and heartache and in that time he lost him again. He promised that he wouldn’t let Quark go another life alone and he had failed him again. 

“Commander”

Quark had just joined Starfleet, he probably wasn’t but 19-20 years old. Had he made any profit? How was he going to bribe the Blessed Exchequer? Would he…..no. Odo couldn’t think about Quark’s soul dying. 

“Commander”

What if Odo didn’t get another chance? This whole time he’d focussed on Quark being alone….but what about Odo. Those years after Quark had died were rougher than he liked to admit. He could go back to the Great Link but he’d left for a reason. Of course, that reason was Quark. But he’d never felt like he truly belonged in the link. He was always slightly separate.

“ODO” The Captain yelled. Odo snapped to attention. He was standing alone in front of the Captain’s desk, the other officers having left. How long had he been standing here?

“Yes Captain” Odo said. The Captain leveled a look at Odo that was an uneven mixture of concern and annoyance.

“Is there something bothering you Commander?” She asked. Odo paused before answering.

“I knew him” Odo said. 

“Who?” she asked.

“Ensign Fayavar” Odo supplied. The Captain nodded.

“I hate to pry, but I’d be very interested to know how. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person you’d associate with” She said. Odo half back a huff. Nog had been a member (and a high ranking one at that) for nearly two hundred years and the Federation still had prejudices against the Ferengi. 

“He didn’t know me” Odo said. The Captain scrunched up her face in confusion. 

“It’s a Ferengi thing” Odo finished. She leaned back in her chair and sighed.

“Would you like to speak to Counselor Mercer?” She offered.

“No” Odo said, shocking absolutely no one. 

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Odo ended up leaving Starfleet a few months later. He’d only been in Starfleet to get away from Quark, and well, we saw how that went. Odo however, was now at a loss at what to do. He didn’t want to go back to DS9 and Starfleet was a joke. There was always Ferenginar, but that seemed a little on the nose. Besides, the hated 99.99999% of Ferengi (excepting Ishka), and the thought of being surrounded by nearly 80 billion of them was hellish. 

Eventually, he decided to stay in San Francisco. He was far from the only alien here and enough people passed through that he felt like he had a decent chance of at least hearing about Quark. Odo knew he had at least 18 years till he could worry about anything, so he took this time to develop some new hobbies. His favorite was writing. He wasn’t  _ good _ at it, but it took up time. He mostly wrote about old cases he had solved. He tried to spice them up, make them more interesting. He even gave himself a pretty assistant named Giselle Grainger. He'd finish one and then put it where it belonged, in the bottom drawer of a dresser. 

This went on, until one day Odo was walking towards his favorite park and he heard lots of loud shrieking. Odo did as he always did and minded his own business and kept walking. As he kept walking the shrieking got loud, which meant he was heading towards the awful racket. Odo half considered turning around and calling the day a wash, but he figured he could just power-walk past whatever the noise was and continue on his way. 

He rounded a corner and he saw what was making all the noise. There was a person with multiple signs and a megaphone screaming in front of the Breen embassy. Odo felt himself slump. Prophets in the Temple he hated protestors. Odo sped up his walking pattern and lowered his head to attempt to sneak past them.

“SIR”

Shit

“Sir, do YOU believe that females have the SAME RIGHTS AS MALES” The megaphone said as it was shoved directly into Odo’s ear. Thankfully Odo’s ear was only a facsimile of an ear or he’d be deaf now. Odo shoved the megaphone out of his headspace and turned to the offender. 

“Well????” They asked.

Fuck

The megaphone wielding maniac was a relatively young Ferengi woman. She had on an angry expression which was framed by her wild eye makeup and gaudy gold earrings.

Quark had really outdone himself this time.

“SIR???” She started up again. 

“Ma’am, if you would let me speak then I could answer you” Odo shot back. The young woman closed her mouth but still had an air of authority about her.

“I support your cause, but don’t women already have equal rights in this quadrant” Odo asked. The woman rolled her eyes so hard it looked painful.

“Typical male response, not informed on any issues but the ones that affect him”

“I’m not a male” Odo shot back. The young woman’s cocky look nearly got slapped off her face.

“Huh?” She said. Odo harrumphed.

“I technically don’t have a gender” He explained. The young woman suddenly got very nervous. 

“Um uh….I’m sorry….I just assumed….on my planet gender fluidity doesn’t exist so I forget that... _ krut _ ….” She cursed. Odo chuckled. 

“It’s understandable Ms…..”

“Miasha” She said. Odo smirked and decided to fuck with her some more. So he put his wrists together and curled his fingers into his palm. Miasha stared at him, but eventually returned the greeting.

“You are familiar with Ferengi?” She asked in a daze. Odo chuckled.

“You could say that”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“I hadn’t realized it had gotten that bad on Ferenginar” Odo said. Miasha nodded as she took a sip from her drink. Just because Quark was in a different body doesn’t mean that the promise of a free meal (or a free anything for that matter) wouldn’t get him to follow a person anywhere (or at least to a nearby cafe). 

“They rolled back all female rights laws about thirty years ago, as soon as Grand Nagus Pleno took over. My mother and father are traditionalists so they actually welcomed the change” She said. 

“I can only guess that caused conflict” Odo said. Miasha rolled her eyes.

“I’m glad my mother only had one daughter because Exchequer knows if she’d had any more they would have been as weak-willed and spineless as her” Miasha ranted. 

“I had opinions and to her, that was like a slap in the face. She and father disowned me when I became an Ishkite” Miasha said as she shoved a handful of tube grubs into her mouth.

“Ishkite?” Odo asked. 

“That’s our name. We females who fight to regain our equality. We named ourselves after the female who gave us our freedom in the first place” She said. Odo nodded and tried to contain his smile but he was failing miserably. 

“This conversation has been very one-sided and I do have questions for you” Miasha said, suddenly turning the conversation on Odo.

“You seem to know a lot about Ferengi. You did the greeting, you were actually surprised that my rights had been rolled back instead of the fact that at one point I actually  **_had_ ** rights, and just now you acted like you knew who Ishka was and most  _ Ferengi _ don’t know who Ishka was. What or who exactly are you?” Miasha asked. Odo smirked.

“I’m a changeling” Odo said. The words hit Miasha and she tensed and leaned back in her chair.

“A changeling, but they aren’t supposed to live in the Alpha quadrant” She said. 

“I am not apart of the Dominion” He said reassuringly. Miasha did not look reassured.

“I fought with the Federation against the Dominion. I was at Deep Space Nine” Odo said. This suddenly changed something with Miasha. She leaned closer to Odo.

“Deep Space Nine?” She asked. Odo nodded.

“Like….the place where Grand Nagus Rom lived?” She asked. Odo couldn’t help but let out a bark of laughter. He tried to control himself but he couldn’t seem to stop giggling.

“Yes, I knew Rom” He said between two chuckles. Miasha’s eyes immediately lit up.

“Grand Nagus Rom is the son of-”

“Ishka, yes I know. I met her.” Odo said. Miasha nearly collapsed.

“Whatwasshelikedidshereallywalkaroundwithclothesyearsbeforetheclothingacthadbeenpassediheardsheamassedafortunegreatedthangrandnaguszekandherhusbandandbothhersonsshepersonallyraisedtwonagusesandmarriedanothershesaqueenbutdidwhataboutherinvestmentinbeetlesnuffwasitasprofitableastherumorssaybecausethatsahighlydebatedtopicinallofmysupportgroups-”

“ **Miasha** ” Odo said gruffly in a way that made him very nostalgic. She stopped her rambling.

“Sorry… it’s just, we don’t know a whole lot about her and no one is alive from those days to talk about her” Miasha said. Odo crossed his arms.

“To be fair, I didn’t know her exceptionally well” Odo admitted.

“How did you know her” She asked. Odo paused. Was he supposed to admit to new-Quark that he knew old-Quark? Was that against the rules? Surely not? The Ferengi didn’t seem to be the type to have a  _ strict _ religion like the Trill.

“I was married to her son” Odo admitted. Miasha looked confused.

“Not Rom obviously” Odo said. Miasha nodded her head.

“Yeah….obviously. You were married to the other one….Queep?” Miasha said. Odo sighed.

“Quark” He corrected. 

“Yeah, what I said” She nodded. Odo rolled his eyes. Miasha slid back into her chair a little more.

“So you were married?” She asked more than stated.

‘Yes” Odo answered. She nodded.

“For a long time or did you two hook up at the 75th annual DS9 Dominion War reunion?” She joked. Odo huffed amusedly. 

“We got married a few years after the war. We were together for 257 years” Odo said. Miasha nodded.

“Do you miss him?” Miasha asked, but then suddenly shook her head.

“That’s stupid I’m sorry, of course, you miss him” She said.

“It’s alright. I do, but I know that’s he’s somewhere out there” Odo said. Miasha looked up at him and smiled. 

“The river will provide” She said. Odo smiled back.

“The river will provide”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  
  


Being with Miasha was like falling in love with Quark all over again. Except for this time, it was a little less antagonistic, at least on his end. Miasha had asked him to follow her, to help her with her activism and Odo couldn’t say yes fast enough. Odo had never really been one for making a scene. Oftentimes he was the one breaking up the scenes. There is however something to be said for creating one. Miasha traveled around the Federation building support for her causes and Odo was beside her the entire time. 

Along the trail, Miasha got a lot of criticism that her female empowerment movement was in part made up by men. One particularly memorable instance was on Farius Prime when some Orion woman had asked her ‘how could she advocate to free women when she herself had a male mate’. Without missing a beat, she said ‘Firstly, my mate is not male he technically doesn’t have a gender and secondly, if you come for me again, you are going to get hit’.

Odo is 97% sure if he had eyebrows that they would have shot up to his hairline. Maisha had never mentioned being “mates”. However, from then on there, that’s what they were. Maisha would hold his hand when they walked and she’d kiss him like they would never see each other again, and Odo kept her from going to prison for assault. 

Odo tried not to make the same mistakes he had made with his relationship with Quark. Firstly, time. He’d known Quark for nearly twenty years before he decided that it was finally time to “make his move”. Odo didn’t want to wait that long to be with Miasha, so he waited an appropriate amount of time and asked if she would marry him. 

Important to note, “appropriate” means different things to different cultures. To the Bajorans, this could mean years. To the Changelings ...well they had no real concept of time or marriage so they aren’t very relevant. More importantly, to the Ferengi, this usually meant a couple of days at most a few weeks. This was not something that Odo was aware of. So when he asked Miasha to marry him nine months (more of an impatient human standard but ok) down the road, she groaned and said “FINALLY” which….Odo will be honest, put a damper on his mood. It only got worse when she immediately went to her padd and pulled up her marriage contract papers. Yes, the whole Ferengi aesthetic was business but was nothing sacred? 

The only thing Odo regrets about their relationship is that Miasha was never able to fully get back all the rights for females that had been taken away. They now could wear clothing, but the old philosophy of “if they have pockets then they have a right to fill them” was not nearly as potent as it was back in the day. Miasha had gotten females the right to be negotiation partners. Now they could be apart of their marriage contract and even demand a divorce. 

There was something different about this relationship than the others. Well, specifically four things. Those things are Bavar, Dim, Hoego, and Horta. While neither Odo nor Miasha were very….parentally inclined???? they made it work. Miasha was sore about not having a daughter until the day she died.

Miasha died 231 years after Odo had met her. She passed away, very similar to Quark. Quietly, in her bed on Ferenginar, except this time she was surrounded by her family. Her four sons, her 11 grandchildren, 38 grandchildren, and however many of the 100+ great-grandchildren she had that could fit into the room. Odo was there too, right by her side. 

He thought it wouldn’t hurt as much for some reason, but of course, he was wrong. However, this time he wasn’t alone. Dim and Hoego helped pack up their house and sort through her belongings, Bavar set up her desiccation, Horta patted his shoulder when they finally divvied up her ashes amongst the family. 

Unlike when Quark died, Odo didn’t immediately whisk himself away to a distant Starbase and refuse to see the rest of the family. Odo decided to stick around. He watched as his sons, who he had taught how to walk and talk, grew old and began to wither away. Dim was the first one to go, a freak shuttle accident. Next was Horta, then Bavar, then finally Hoego. 

Odo decided to leave after that.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Odo didn’t venture that far, just to the other side of Ferenginar. He’d spent more time with the Ferengi than he had with his own people. He should have more of a problem with that but he couldn’t be assed to care.

Life wasn’t that bad on Ferenginar if you didn’t mind the rain that is. Odo had settled on a pretty rural location so he didn’t have many neighbors and very little noise to disturb him. 

*knock knock knock*

At least most of the time. 

Odo grumbled as he put his book down and climbed out of his chair. He learned long ago that just simply ignoring a Ferengi knocking on the door wasn’t enough to get them to go away. Odo opened the door and on the other side was a young male Ferengi, couldn’t be much older than his Attainment.

“Have you decided who you will be voting on this election?” He asked. Odo nearly rolled his eyes. Around 100 years ago the Ferengi did away with Nagus’ choosing their successors and instead decided to do an election instead. Odo hardly saw why it mattered. Only those chosen by the previous Nagus had the guts to run.

“I haven’t and I am not going to. I’m not a Ferengi” Odo said as he was closing the door on him. 

“THAt doesn’t matter sir” The man said as he slid his foot between the door and the door jam. Odo sighed heavily.

“There is only one Ferengi up for the task of being our next Nagus. All of the others have been coddled and pray off of the fortunes of Grand Nagus Got” He said. Odo nodded as he slowly crushed his foot with the door.

“Will you please spread the good wor-”

“Absolutely not” Odo said as he pushed the Ferengi’s head and sent him flying backward. He then slammed the door and went back to his book.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


A few months after that incident, Odo found himself in the Capital city of Ferenginar. He hated traveling into the city. To many people, too much mud, and gross smells all around. He was currently walking through the Sacred Marketplace on his way to the Hall of Naguses. It was sentimental, but Odo had taken to leaving a small memorial offering at Rom’s statue. 

“Sir would you lik-”

“NO” He practically screamed at the businessman as he trudged his way through the square at the base of the Tower of Commerce. Eventually, and with much struggle, he made his way inside the building and climbed twelve flights of stairs (because fuck paying 5 strips of latinum to take the elevator) to the Hall of Naguses. At the front of the hall was an ancient Ferengi manning a desk. He looked up at Odo and snorted.

“Yop triska gleep do-sta gren-la neep-gren goss uff wok ton (Get in. Look around or leave your offering, don’t masturbate, then get out, foreigner)” said the old Ferengi. Odo sighed heavily. How did this man live in the 30th century and not have a universal translator? 

“Cucht eeta ekrajhn-voy kora noosa (I’ve lived here longer than your entire bloodline)” Odo shot back as he walked past the desk into the hall. The old Ferengi didn’t even muster enough interest to say anything back.

At the front of the hall is a very large statue of Grand Nagus Gint which stood at least twenty feet tall. Next to him was a smaller, but nonetheless huge statue of the current Grand Nagus. Or was he current? Had he stepped down yet? Odo shrugged and continued through the hall. Rom was quite far back. Most Ferengi liked to forget that he existed. Odo walked for what seemed like ages before he turned the corner into Rom’s section. 

The focal point of the room was a large statue of Grand Nagus Zek. Odo couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes at it. Biggest idiot he’d ever met, and THAT was saying something. Next to Zek was a life-sized (which is very small in comparison to everyone else) statue of Rom. Odo remembered when it had been commissioned. Quark had complained that they hadn’t quite got his “stupid grin” just right. Odo agreed. Odo looked down into the eyes of the statue and smiled. Then he reached into the bag he’d been carrying and pulled out his offering.

One glass bottle of root beer imported all the way from Earth. 

Odo laid it at the feet of the statue and stood back for a moment. 

“MORE LIGHT”

“WHERE IN THE VAULT OF ETERNAL DESTITUTION IS MAKEUP??” 

Odo closed his eyes and groaned inwardly. He looked towards the disturbance. Coming this way was a large group of Ferengi huddled around someone. A few of them were holding cameras and microphones, but most of them were doting around someone in the center of the huddle. 

Odo needed to escape fast.

“SIR STOP” Someone yelled at him as he took a step. Odo did not listen to them and continue to try and escape the hall.

“SIIIIR” The voice said again. Odo did stop this time, but maybe if he yelled loud enough at them they would leave him alone. 

“I’m leaving” Odo said. 

“Don’t!” The voice said. Suddenly a hand gripped his shoulders and held him in place. Odo whipped around, with the intent to grumble at him until he stopped touching him.

“Sir, we are shooting a holo-vid for the new Nagus. He’s showing respect to those who have come before him. We’d like to see some people in the background ...to make it more natural you know” The Ferengi said. Odo very harshly shrugged his shoulder loose of his grip.

“I don’t want to be apart of your propaganda” Odo said as he sidestepped the man and began to exit the hall. The Ferengi stepped back out in front of him and stopped him again.

“We can reward you handsomely. Perhaps two strips of latinum?” The man offered. Odo rolled his eyes.

“Do I look like I care about latinum?” Odo said, trudging forward without waiting for a reply.

“Sir I don’t think you understand the power of the office you are currently opposing” He said. 

“What are you going to do? Revoke my  _ business license”  _ Odo said with a chuckle to himself.

“SIR”

“What is all this commotion about” Boomed a voice from the other end of the hall. Both Odo and the other Ferengi looked that way. The crowd parted and out stepped a taller than average Ferengi. If his staff didn’t give his identity away, then the fine purple silk robes and well-maintained appearance did. This was the Nagus.

“Nagus, I am so sorry. I was just trying to tell this man that you are  _ very _ important and that he is needed fo-”

“Fnam, I’m the Nagus...he knows how important I am. Isn’t that right ...” The Nagus trailed off, looking for Odo to supply his name. Odo didn’t respond. His face was stuck in an open-mouthed smirk. 

Quark had finally made enough profit to afford a Nagus life.

“Do you understand Ferengi or are you just stupid?” Nagus Quark asked Odo. Odo closed his mouth and shook his head slightly to center himself.

“I am not stupid Grand Nagus, my name is Odo” Odo replied. The Nagus nodded.

“Well Odo, it seems you are needed by me, so do as you’re told, collect your profit and there will be no more problems” The Nagus said, then he turned around and walked back towards the anxious crowd of people.

“Now sir, if you will please go stand in front of one of the Nagus statues….Oh and do pick one other than Nagus Rom, we don’t want to give Ferenginar a bad impression” The Ferengi said at Odo’s side. Odo ignored him and continued to look in the direction of Quark’s new persona. 

“How long has he been Nagus?” Odo asked. The Ferengi at his side sighed.

“I thought you said you weren’t dumb…..He’s only been in office for a few weeks. His victory was unprecedented. He wasn’t endorsed by Nagus Got so no one thought he had a chance. Somehow….he pulled it off, barely I might add. I voted for Bota, but there is something to be said about new blood in the Tower of Commerce” He said. Odo nodded absentmindedly.

“I mean that’s why we’re even doing these holo-vids in the first place. Trying to get traditional Ferengi folks to be okay with the idea of Grand Nagus Adren” He continued. Odo smirked as he saw Quark bat away some makeup artist who had gotten their brush too close to his eye.

“Grand Nagus Adren”

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“And that's a wrap everyone” Said an older Ferengi standing behind a holo-camera. Suddenly all of the Ferengi started to bustle about and grab cables and equipment. Odo began to walk towards them, away from his spot next to the statue of Grand Nagus Pleg. He couldn’t have been more than 10 feet away from the Nagus when a large hand stopped him in his tracks. He looked up to see a very large Hupyrian. He glared at Odo and began to push him backward.

“Igerrot-tu, let him go” Said a voice from the crowd. Odo turned to see Nagus Adren move towards him. The hand on Odo’s chest let him go and Odo harrumphed back. 

“You do know that you can’t just….walk up to the Grand Nagus right?” Adren said. Odo looked down at him. He was older than Quark usually was when Odo found his new reincarnation. He looked around Ishka’s age when he first met her.

“I’m not a Ferengi, I don’t submit to your authority” Odo supplied. Adren chuckled.

“You aren’t Bajoran either but I doubt you’d go up to the Kai, smack them on the back and invite them out for a Black Hole” Adren replied. Odo crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as he turned his face away from Adren.

“Although I can’t blame you, it must be difficult bending to the will of solids when you are so much more powerful than they are” Adren said, slightly smirk on his face. Odo turned quickly to look back at Adren.

“How-”

“I study my history, Changeling, unlike most of my species. I know quite well what you are and what you can do” Adren said. Odo didn’t like this.

“Are you threatening me?” Odo asked with a grumble. 

“Oh no, not at all. In fact, I want to offer you a job. A Nagus has quite a lot of use for a being that can literally become anything. That is….as long as you are better at shifting than your face leads me to believe” Adren said. Odo glared at him. How. Dare. He. Odo hadn’t tried to perfect his face in years. He liked his face. It was...him.

“I’ll have you know that I am completely capable of shifting into whatever I want” Odo shot back. 

“So then you’ll take the job” Adren asked. Odo opened his mouth to say “No” but he stopped himself. Being with Quark didn’t always mean  _ being _ with Quark. Maybe sometimes, he just needed Odo’s help. Although, knowing Quark, this would mean that Odo was probably going to be doing things that weren’t exactly justified and legal. 

“I will”

He was worth it.

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


The work honestly could have been worse. Mainly he was used as a threat and never actually did anything. Nagus Adren always had him nearby, just in case some diplomat or future business partner forgot what kind of resources were at the Nagus’ hands. Igerrot-tu was always at the Nagus’ right and Odo was usually at his left. The work also wasn’t usually that bad. The worst thing he had ever done was he shifted into a maid and stole all of the desiccation disks of this man that Adren wanted to blackmail. And even then, after he had paid the ransom, Odo made sure that all of the disks were given back to him in perfect condition. Well, minus the one Igerrot-tu crushed in his bare hands to show that they were “serious”. 

Odo had worked with Adren for nearly 40 years until things got….hairy.

Recently, a large nationalism movement had been building up on Ferenginar. Outsiders were not worth the honor of doing business with a Ferengi. Some were even demanding that the 75th Rule of Acquisition be struck from the Rules. Nagus Adren was having trouble regulating commerce and pleasing these Ferengi at the same time. Odo didn’t see why he didn’t just say “fuck those guys” and move on. Being nationalistic wasn’t exactly the most profitable venture. The economy had taken a huge dip since all this nonsense started. But Arden, if he was anything (and if he was Quark), was a people pleaser. 

“Sir this would solve a lot of our image problems” Adren’s chief financial advisor said standing in front of Adren. Arden rolled his eyes.

“I don’t have an image problem” Adren said. The financial advisor tightened his face in an express Odo could only describe as “are you sure about that”.

“Sir your approval ratings are down 15 percent” He said.

“I was elected to this position for life….who cares if they don’t  _ approve  _ of me” Adren ranted.

“Sir you still can be deposed by the FCA. And if enough of the Liquidators begin to disapprove, you will be thrown out of office. It nearly happened to Grand Nagus Zek” The advisor said. Odo winced. He’d remembered that whole fiasco. If he EVER had to think about  _ Lumba _ again it would be too soon.

“Sir, you need to take a wife and start a family. There hasn’t been a childless bachelor Nagus since Grand Nagus Brelok, and I don’t think I need to remind you how that ended” The advisor said with a nod. Adren winced and so did Odo. Being trampled to death by a horde of desperate Ferengi men with available daughters was not the best way to die.

“I have some profiles here if you would like to see them?” The advisor said as he held out a holopad. Adren sighed then looked at Odo. Odo shrugged back. Adren then waved his hand and the padd was brought to him. As he swiped through all of his options, Odo thought. He hadn’t really dealt with Quark having another spouse since the first time he’d met his reincarnation. And after that, he immediately skipped out and joined Starfleet. Maybe he could talk him out of this? Of course, that could potentially lead to him getting desposed or assassinated. 

Probably best to just let it go and suck it up. 

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“I don’t want to marry some female” Adren said as he leaned back on his throne, still flipping through the holopad. The advisor had left hours ago to give the Nagus some time to come to a decision.

“I don’t think you have much choice” Odo offered. 

“I’m the Nagus….I have all the choices” Adren said, pouting like a child. Odo rolled his eyes.

“It isn’t the end of the world. It isn’t as if you have to be an  _ attentive  _ husband” Odo replied.

“But I don…..” Adren said. Odo folded his arms and turned to face the Nagus.

“Nagus…..if you prefer...men, that surely won’t be a problem” Odo supplied. Adren glared at Odo.

“It isn’t that I prefer men-”

“But do you-”

“NOT the question Odo” 

“It isn’t that I prefer men, I just don’t like…. _ Ferengi”  _ Adren said, with shame creeping into his voice. If Odo had eyebrows, they would be near his hairline.

“I see” Odo said with a nod. Adren sighed and massaged his temples. Odo opened his mouth and a strangled sigh came out.

“There was no stipulation that your….partner had to be Ferengi. I’m sure your advisors could find you a nice…...human or…..whatever” Odo said, not really wanting to discuss the subject even though he had brought it up.

“It would actually be better for my image in the long run. I would promote traditional Ferengi family values and also show that going beyond our border is a profitable thing” Adren said, standing up with excitement. Odo sighed. He was going to have to convince some poor human woman to marry his reincarnated gremlin husband.

“And besides, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Grand Nagus Rhash married that Breen woman and Olazig had six Orion wives” Adren said, getting excited. Odo winced. Having Adren (and thus Quark) be happy; excellent. Watching a 150+-year-old  _ goblin  _ dance around the room at the thought of fucking a human; gross.

“Do you want me to go inform your advisors about your decision?” Odo said, heading towards the door, not waiting on him to respond. 

“No need, I already know who I’m picking” Adren said. Odo stopped and turned around to face the Nagus.

“Who?” Odo asked. Adren smiled.

“You, of course, you idiot” Adren said with a smile and a playful pat on his arm. Odo froze. What.

“Huh” Was the most intelligent thing that came out of Odo’s mouth. Adren chuckled.

“You’re an alien, you won’t mind that I’m always busy, you aren’t going to be knocking down my door demanding children. It’s a great idea” Adren said. Odo just stood there.

“But….I thought you….A Ferengi can…..I thought the point was to be attracted to them” Odo finally managed to say. Adren shuffled.

“And?” Adren said looking up at Odo. AAAHHHHHH

“But...sir. I’m a guard, I serve you on tasks that require my special abilities…..I’m not…. ARM CANDY” Odo said, accidentally raising his voice. Adren laughed.

“You can serve two purposes” Adren said. Odo felt sick to his stomach, even though he didn’t have a stomach. Had he really been a piece of….a piece of ASS for the past forty years?????

“I’ll tell my advisors in the morning what I’ve decided. They should have the contract drawn up in a day or so. We can be married by the end of the week” Adren said like it was no big deal. Odo was flustered.

“Sir I haven’t said yes yet” Odo reminded him. Adren sighed and put his hands on Odo’s shoulders.

“Odo, it isn’t real. Nothing will change, except you’ll probably get a share of my profits, which you are welcome by the way. I help you and you help me, that’s how it’s always worked” Adren said. Odo paused. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This life was supposed to be casual. He wasn’t supposed to get too involved this time around. Being married to Quark….even fake married was a lot. It has only been….120 years since Miasha had died…...Was it really that long? How long had it been since he’s seen Quark?

“Odo?” Adren said, concerned that Odo had just checked out on him.

“I’ll marry you”

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


As you can imagine, the large nationalist group on Ferenginar did not  _ particularly _ care for the fact that the Grand Nagus had just married a Changeling, a former enemy of the quadrant. There was a lot of backlash and increased scrutiny on the Nagus’ administration. Many were questioning all of the Nagus’ decisions and why Odo had even been given his job in the first place. Odo resolved not to change his behavior at all. He still did what the Nagus asked of him, he walked to his left, and he generally stayed out of the public perception. This got to be a little harder when every Ferengi tabloid in the system wanted dirt on the “Changeling Menace”. So far the only thing they had been able to report was that he would throat punch you if you got too close. 

Around year five, things got worse. Talk of desposing the Nagus grew and now they even had a replacement Nagus. Goxa, a big shot among the nationalist movement and possibly the biggest idiot Odo had ever heard of. Goxa was obviously a puppet of the movement, so Odo didn’t really give him much thought. The same could not be said of the advisors.

“Sir, you cannot renew your marriage contract with Odo. You will be desposed. You will be thrown off the Tower of Commerce, and I’LL be thrown with you” The advisor stressed. Adren was slumped in his throne and had his eyes closed painfully. 

“I’m not bowing to the will of a bunch of overzealous  _ revolutionaries  _ who think they know how to run the Alliance” Adren said with a groan. The advisor wrung his hands together in an effort to build up some courage.

“Sir I don’t think you have the power that other Naguses have had. They commanded respect, you don’t. You’ve done nothing major to the economy and therefore nothing of grea-”

“What if we just had them all killed? How hard could that be?” Adren said. Odo turned his head slightly. Ferengi, however nasty they are, never usually resorted to violence.

“Nagus, there are approximately 65,000 leaders in the movement and over 7 million members” The advisor said with a huff.

“Then maybe a mass deportation. That’d really piss them off” Adren said with a laugh.

“ADREN” Yelled the advisor. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to him in shock.

“You are going to have to actually do something of substance. Either come up with your own solution to their problems…..or maybe lean into their opinions” The advisor said. Adren gripped the handrails of his throne and stood up. He began to walk towards him.

“I will NOT let the will of 7 million dictate the lives of over 12 billion. This is madness and I will not give in to it” Adren said, inches away from his face. 

“Then I’m afraid termination and removal is right around the corner and I hate to inform you but I will not die for you” The advisor said without backing down. 

“You’re dismissed” Adren said. And with that, the advisor promptly left the room.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Much to Odo’s disagreement, Adren decided to address his critics directly. To even further terrify Odo, Adren decided to host them all on the top floor balcony reception area of the Tower of Commerce. He was practically begging to get thrown off. Odo scanned the crowd of 400 angry Ferengi for suspicious activity. He had already patted them all down individually. He had confiscated three energy whips, seven Klingon weapons, and even one Andorian ushaan-tor. They all seemed to be “Ferengi First!” until it came to murdering the Nagus. 

“Attention all. If you will please calm yourself, the Nagus is about to speak” Spoke a tiny Ferengi on the stage in front of the crowd. That was Adren’s new financial advisor, Stonk. He probably wouldn’t last long, too fidgety (even for a Ferengi). The crowd began to grow even more antsy with the announcement. Odo didn’t move, just stayed in his place to the left of the speaking pulpit. No need to show them how nervous he was about this entire event. Adren hadn’t even gone over what he was going to say at this damn thing to anyone on his staff. 

At that moment, Igerrot-tu entered the room, which meant that Adren wasn’t far behind. If the increase in volume was anything to go by. Adren was showing off. He wore his traditional purple Nagus robe, but everything else was bright gleaming gold. Odo rolled his eyes. If Adren made it out of this alive it would be a miracle. 

Adren stepped up to the pulpit and took his place. He hushed the crowd with a wave of his hand and he began to speak. 

“Dear Ferengi Brothers, it has come to my attention that you are dissatisfied with the way that Ferenginar conducts its business” He paused as the crowd grumbled and yelled in agreement.

“Well I have heard you, and I ask that you hear me. We as a people cannot reject the principals on which our society is based. Rule of Acquisition Number 95, Expand or Die. Rule of Acquisition Number 117, Know your enemies but do business with them always. And of course, Rule of Acquisition Number 75, Home is where the heart is but the stars are made of Latinum. We cannot abandon these Rules in favor of our fear of the outside world. They may be beneath us but that does not mean that their pockets aren’t still lined with Latinum. If my words will do nothing to persuade you then I will show you something more tangible” Adren spoke. Then he turned to Igerrot-tu who held up a large poster full of random graphs. Odo had to hold him back from rolling his eyes. Did he really think he was going to hold off a cultural revolution with math?? 

As Adren turned to point to his graphs, Odo saw a glint of light out of the corner of his eye. He immediately turned to it and saw a large object flying towards the Nagus. Odo quickly jumped into its direct path. Igerrot-tu must have seen something as well because he dropped the poster and dove in the opposite direction. 

Odo felt something enter his chest and he looked down. A large hravak was poking out of his chest. Odo clenched his jaw in anger as he pulled the knife out of his chest. He turned toward the crowd and saw a large number of people crowding around one of the Nagal guards. He was holding a phaser pointed at the stage and laughing like a maniac. Odo turned and saw Igerrot-tu lying on the ground, another hravak in his chest. Then Odo turned his body to cover Adren. Adren looked at Odo, wide-eyed. Odo then looked down at his chest. A large phaser burn covered his chest. Odo looked back up to Adren as he reached out to grab him. Adren stumbled backward, his legs hitting the railing of the balcony. 

“Odo” He said as he tipped over the edge. Odo didn’t wait for him to completely fall before he turned into a large Altairian albatross. As Adren plummeted to the ground, Odo dove down to try and catch him. Odo extended his large talons and grabbed onto Adren’s robe. He gripped it tight and began to pull up. The robe instantly tore and Adren’s body smacked hard onto the stone of the Sacred Marketplace. Odo couldn’t tear his eyes away. Adren’s broken body laid there, attracting a small crowd. Odo beat his wings a few times, trying to stay aloft.

Then, he flew off.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Without Adren there, the nationalist movement took over. Odo abandoned his house in the country and moved away from Ferenginar. Odo traveled on random cargo ships (as a crate) for a few months, unsure of what to do. He probably could never go back to Ferenginar, he’d been too high profile. DS9 felt wrong and it had since Quark had died. Eventually, he made a decision. Odo found the first transport on its way towards the Delta quadrant and never looked back. 

Unfortunately, the only people making regular trips to the Delta quadrant besides Starfleet are members of the Orion Syndicate. Odo had long since given up the ghost of “justice”, but being in the belly of the beast still made his simulated skin crawl. 

Finding the Syndicate hadn’t been a problem or even  _ that  _ difficult. Odo looked into a couple of Quark’s old associates (and then followed up on their great-grandchildren) and that led him straight to the syndicate. The issue came up when he tried to get passage on a Syndicate ship. That required doing a lot of “favors” for a lot of undesirable people. People Odo would have gladly jailed on DS9. It took him a few years, but finally, Odo heard of a ship leaving for the Delta quadrant that might have room for a Changeling who could help them “slip past a few difficult situations”. A Syndicate cargo ship was set to travel to the edge of the Delta quadrant from Moropa. Odo intended to be on it, arrive at the Delta quadrant, hop on some other ship, and keep going forever. 

Moropa was a nice planet, if not a little on the violent side. Odo arrived and nearly got stabbed in the docking bay by a Nausicaan. Odo just pulled up the hood on his simulated cloak, ducked his head down, and looked for the ship that was going to take him out of this forsaken quadrant. It was called the Jerannu and once he laid on it, he’d wished he hadn’t. It was the biggest piece of junk he’d ever seen. It was more rust than actual metal and stank of stale beer and methane. Odo walked up to the ship and saw a male Orion leaning up against the loading port. He was bald, ugly, and stank worse than his ship.

“Mr. Gaagguz?” Odo asked. He jolted from his position and faced Odo.

“THe fuck are you?” He said defensively. Odo rolled his eyes.

“I’m the Changeling '' Odo stated with a huff. Gaagguz’s pissed expression quickly turned to one of sick joy.

“Excellent. I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve heard that you possess….talents that are very useful” He said grinning and exposing, what Odo estimated to be, three teeth. Odo crossed his arms.

“So I have been told” Odo said. Gaagguz pushed himself off his ship and flung an arm around Odo’s shoulder. Odo doesn’t have an actual nose, but the smell nearly knocked him on his ass. 

“Please, right this way. Make yourself comfortable and we will take off shortly” Gaagguz said as he led Odo onto his ship. 

The inside was not much better than the outside. However, to Odo’s surprise, they were not alone. Three other people sat around the floor of the ship. A large Bolian asleep against the wall of the ship and two Saurians playing cards. 

“Our final crew member is here lads. We’ll take off in a few minutes” Gaagguz said as he stepped his way over them to reach the conn. Odo looked around the cabin and saw a small flimsy chair on the other side of the Bolian. Odo sighed and stepped over him to sit down. The Bolian grunted in his sleep but was otherwise unaffected. Odo heard various angry-sounding clicks coming from the two Saurians. They looked ready to argue loudly. Odo closed his eyes and feigned sleep, maybe he’d be left alone then.

Odo felt the ship begin to take off and a few minutes later felt the ship shift into warp. Odo let out a sigh of relief. 

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


So far the trip had been uneventful. The Bolian woke up and grumbled at the Saurians until they let him enter their game. Odo continued to pretend to be asleep.

“How’s it going up there Gaagguz” Yelled out the Bolian after he folded his most recent hand.

“We are almost past Romulan space. We should be out of the worst of it” Gaagguz replied. The Bolian nodded.

“I need a drink, you two want anything” The Bolian said, turning to the Saurians. They clicked in disagreement.

“Suit yourself…..BOY” The Bolian said. Odo suddenly heard a rattling coming from the back of the ship.

“Sir” said a very small voice. Odo opened his eyes. Before the group stood a very small child, no more than five years old.

A very small Ferengi child.

A very small Quark.

“Get me some of that Saurian brandy in the back” The Bolian ordered. The child nodded his head and ran back to the back of the ship. Odo sat very still. He had no idea what to do. He could never escape. WHy….HOW did he and Quark seem to always meet. Was it written somewhere in the Ferengi reincarnation rulebook that soulmates always find each other again? Then again….what rulebook?? Odo has been flying by the seat of his pants since Quark died.

  
  


…..soulmates…..had they really been….

  
  


Just then, the child came back in with a tall glass of brandy. They held it out for the Bolian, but just then a large jolt hit the ship and half of the brandy spilled out of the glass. The Bolian immediately became enraged.

“DO YOU THINK THAT STUFF GROWS ON TREES. IT’S GODDAMN EXPENSIVE” He said as he got up. He then reached forward and grabbed one of the child’s lobes. The child screamed in pain. Odo immediately jumped up and ran towards them. The Bolian turned around, still gripping the child.

“And exactly what do you think you are doing Changeling?” The Bolian asked. Odo steeled himself.

“Let go of them  _ now”  _ Odo said with a deep grumble. 

“He’s my property, I can do with him as I please” The Bolian said, tightening his grip, which caused the child to squirm and scream even more.

“Property? You can’t own slaves in the Federation” Odo said.

“We aren’t in the Federation if you haven’t noticed” The Bolian said. He grinned at Odo and let go of the child with a shove. The child ended up on the floor, clutching his ear. 

“Don’t fuck with me or my property Changeling….you will not like the results” The Bolian said as he walked away from Odo. Odo glared at him till he got an appropriate distance the fuck away from him. Then, he turned around to see the child. He was gone. Odo looked up and couldn’t find him. Odo immediately walked towards the back, it wasn’t that big a ship, he couldn’t hide forever. 

Odo found him curled up between two shipping containers, still clutching his ear. Odo tried to approach him slowly and quietly. He knelt to his knees and looked at him between the crates.

“Hello….My name is Odo” He said with a slight smile. The child looked scared and didn’t say anything back.

“I’m sorry about all that back there. I was just trying to help…..I don’t like seeing people get bullied” Odo said, folding his legs under him to sit down. The child seemed to calm down slightly but still made no effort to come close to Odo.

“Does your ear hurt? I’m not a doctor, but I know a lot about Ferengi and their ears. I can make sure you aren’t severely hurt” Odo offered. Odo saw the gears in the child’s head begin to turn. Eventually, he shuffled closer to Odo, but not all the way out from between the containers. Odo tried to get a look at his ear from there. The child was still clutching it so he couldn’t get a clear view.

“What’s your name?” Odo asked him. The child stared at Odo for a long time. Every once in awhile he’d let out a small whimper or sniffle. Odo sighed.

“I promise I’m not going to hurt you” Odo said. The child still didn’t move. Odo huffed.

“I don’t blame you….Rule of Acquisition Number 53, never trust anyone taller than you” Odo said. The child’s face scrunched up in confusion. Odo chuckled.

“I told you I know about the Ferengi. Rule of Acquisition Number 100, when it’s good for business, tell the truth” Odo said. The child looked at him and very slowly slid out from between the containers. Odo tilted his head to the side and took a look at his ear. The outer lobe was dark and a little swollen. He reached up to his hand.

“I’m going to touch you, is that ok?” Odo asked. The child nodded slowly. Odo touched his ear and moved it back and forth. The child hissed with pain, but Odo didn’t feel any broken cartilage. 

“I think it’s just bruised. It’ll be sore for a few days but you’ll be ok” Odo said, taking his hand back. 

“Have you eaten today?” Odo asked. The child shook his head. Odo lifted his head and looked around the cargo hold. Over in the far corner, he saw a large crate with a lid slightly open. That was probably the brandy crate. Any food was probably near there. 

“Follow me” Odo said. The child made a whimpering noise and Odo stopped. The child held his arms up and made grabby hands. Odo smiled. He bent back down and picked him up by his waist. He settled the child on his hip and began to walk over to the crate. The child settled into Odo’s side, snuggling into his shoulder. Odo’s felt his hand even make his way up to clutch Odo’s ear. Odo let out a small amused huff. Just like Dim used to….

Odo’s search turned up some containers of  _ gagh  _ that looked incredibly gross to him, but bug-like enough that the young Ferengi was sure to love it. Odo opened one of the containers with his free hand and gave the container of wriggling  _ gagh  _ to the child. He wasted no time absolutely devouring it. A fair bit of it ended up on Odo, but Odo just brushed it off best he could and let him continue eating. 

The child started yawning as he licked the container clean. 

“Do you have a bed?” Odo asked. The child nodded and pointed to a dark corner of the cargo hold. The child yawned again and Odo took the opportunity to slip the  _ gagh  _ container out of his hands. The child went right back to his previous position as Odo walked over to the corner. 

'Bed' had been a stretch. It was a very tattered blanket on the floor. Odo grumbled. He looked around the cargo hold once again. He’d gotten lucky with the  _ gagh,  _ there probably wasn’t any contraband blankets or pillows lying around. Odo began to kneel down on the ground next to the “bed”. 

“I’m going to try and make you more comfortable” Odo said, but looking to his side he saw that it didn’t matter. The child was fast asleep and drooling on his shoulder. Odo smiled. He began to shift his form. He used his legs to form a makeshift cot with a thick comforter and a nice pillow. As carefully as he could he extracted the child from his side and tucked him in. He wouldn’t last forever, but maybe enough to let him get a few good hours of sleep in. As soon as his head hit the pillow, the child visibly relaxed and snuggled into it. Odo leaned back against the wall of the cargo hold and watched over him. 

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Odo came into consciousness and was in his natural form. Quickly he began to shift back into his humanoid appearance. Once his eyes had formed, he looked around. He was still in the cargo hold leaning up against a wall. He looked around him and didn’t see any sight of the Ferengi. Odo began to panic and got up. 

“I’m here” said a small voice far to the left. Odo whipped his head in that direction and saw him. Odo breathed out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding in. 

“I woke up in goo….are you goo?” The child asked, walking towards Odo. Odo knelt back down on the ground.

“Yes, that’s my natural state” Odo said. The child nodded.

“It’s gross but I still like you” He said. Odo chuckled. The child walked over closer to Odo and sat down beside him. He began playing with the threads on his blanket. 

“You never did tell me your name. Do you have one?” Odo asked. The little Ferengi looked up.

“I’m Smeedac like my daddy” He said. Odo nodded

“Where is your father?” Odo asked. 

“He died” Smeedac said matter of factly. Odo sighed.

“Where is your Moogie?” Odo asked, expecting a similar answer.

“She’s with new daddy” Smeedac responded. Odo’s brow furrowed.

“New daddy?” Odo asked. Smeedac nodded.

“After daddy died, Moogie married new daddy. He didn’t like me so he sent me to live with Mr. Ponbahub, and then he sent me to Mr. Zeetzi, then he lost me in a poker game to Mrs. Jeelli, and she gave me as a present to Mr. Ornafit and now I’m here!” Smeedac said, looking excited that he could be so useful. Odo’s frown deepened, which made Smeedac stop smiling.

“Smeedac...I’m going to make you a promise” Odo said. Smeedac looked up at Odo.

“I’m going to set you free. I don’t know how I am going to do it, but you  _ will  _ be free. I’ll die trying” Odo said. Smeedac shook his head

“Mr. Odo yo-”

“Don’t you wanna go back to Ferenginar? Be with your people?” Odo asked. Smeedac’s browridge furrowed in confusion.

“What’s Feren….Furrengeenair?” Smeedac asked. Odo’s heart dropped, or at least it would have. 

“Ferenginar is the home planet of the Ferengi. You are a Ferengi” Odo said. Smeedac nodded slowly.

“Furr-en-gee? Really?” Smeedac asked. Odo chuckled slightly at the horrible pronunciation and nodded.

“Yes, you are a Ferengi” Odo responded. Smeedac smiled wide.

“What are Furr-en-gee like? Are they nice like you? Are you a Furr-en-gee!!!” Smeedac asked excitedly, bouncing with excitement. Odo held back a laugh.

“No, I’m not Ferengi, but I know a lot of them. They….they’re an acquired taste” Odo said, being as honest as he could. Smeedac smiled more….when Odo remembered something. 

“Did…...yesterday, when I was trying to get you to come out from between the shipping containers….I said some of the Rules of Acquisition and you acted as if you recognized them. Are you sure you don’t know who the Ferengi are?” Odo asked. Smeedac shrugged.

“I didn’t know what a Furr-en-gee was, but your rules made sense and you were being nice so I came out” Smeedac confessed. Odo huffed.

“BOY” Yelled a voice from just outside of the cargo hold. Smeedac’s smile immediately left. Odo whipped around and stood up just in time to see the Bolian, Mr. Ornafit, walk-in in a huff. 

“You?!” He said as soon as he saw Odo. Ornafit walked up to Odo and got extremely close to his face.

“The fuck are you doing back here with my property. You trying to steal my kemocite?” He said, his breath clouding Odo’s vision. Odo rolled his eyes.

“I have no interest in your kemocite” Odo said. The Bolian squinted his eyes at Odo and then looked behind him. He quickly looked back up at Odo.

“Still messing with the kid, aren’t you? Now, what did I tell you about  _ fucking around  _ with my property?” Ornafit said, spitting slightly on Odo’s face. 

“If you would kindly remove yourself from my  _ ass  _ then you might be interested in a business proposition that I have for you?” Odo said in his best “shady businessman” voice. Hopefully, all these years of being around Ferengi would come in handy. Ornafit glared at him but did back down. Odo took the chance to look behind him. Smeedac had curled up into a ball into his corner of the cargo hold. Odo turned back. 

This motherfucker would die at his hands.

“How would you like to acquire a substantial amount of latinum?” Odo asked, raising a non-existent eyebrow. Ornafit smirked and Odo wanted to punch his teeth out.

‘I would like that very much” Ornafit said. Odo nodded.

“I want the child, name your price” Odo said, crossing his arms. The Bolian snorted.

“The Ferengi?? Why would I give him to you?” Ornafit said.

“You wouldn’t be giving him to me. I will pay whatever you want” Odo said.  _ Theoretically,  _ Odo had money saved up, whether that would be enough?? Ornafit chuckled as he looked Odo up and down.

“FOUR…. **_BRICKS_ ** of latinum” He said, laughed hard when he had finished speaking. Odo nodded.

“Done” Odo said. Ornafit stopped laughing and squinted at him.

“You did hear me say bricks right?” He asked. Odo nodded.

“Why would you pay that much for a measly  _ Ferengi?”  _ He asked.

“What I want with him is irrelevant. You have named your price and I have agreed to it, I believe that makes an accord?” Odo said, holding his hand out for the Bolian to shake. He didn’t particularly want to touch him, but Quark always said that it was hard for a true businessman to turn down a “deal-sealing” handshake. Ornafit looked at his hand, behind him toward Smeedac, then back to Odo.

“It’s a deal” He said as he gripped his hand tightly and nearly shook it out of Odo’s manifested socket. 

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  
  


“Sir I don’t understand why we are going back” Smeedac said. Odo sighed and kneeled down to talk to him.

“I’m taking you back there so you can have a good life. I’m going to try and give you to a nice Ferengi family who will raise you” Odo said. Smeedac frowned.

“Do you not like me?” Smeedac asked. Odo shook his head.

“Smeedac I can’t raise you, you need to be with your kind” Odo said putting his hand on his shoulder. Smeedac’s chest started to heave and Odo saw tears beginning to well up in his eyes. 

“But what if they don’t want me because I’m not a Furr-en-gee I just look like one” Smeedac said in between sobs. 

“Smeedac, you are a Ferengi” Odo said, raising a hand to wipe away some of the tears that had slipped down his cheek.

“NO I’M NOT” Smeedac sobbed hard as he rubbed his other eye with his sleeve.

“ _ Smeedac”  _

“I don’t even know any of those rules. They’ll hate me and give me away like new daddy did” Smeedac said. Odo sighed and pulled Smeedac in for a hug. The little Ferengi tucked himself into Odo’s shoulder and sobbed.

“You don’t need to know the rules. Someone will teach them to you” Odo said, rubbing his hands up and down his back to try and get him to stop crying. Odo heard a bunch of muffled words and turned his head.

“Say that again please” Odo asked. Smeedac lifted his head a little bit.

“Why can’t you teach me? You know them” He asked. Odo frowned.

“I know them….but I don’t understand them. I can’t tell you that opportunity plus instinct equals profit but I have no idea what that means” Odo said. When Miasha was teaching the boys the Rules, he’d honestly tried to learn them. She’d explain them more to him than she ended up having to do for their children. He still didn’t get it. He’d even had Adren try, but that was just as useless, if not more so. 

“I don’t need the stupid rules then. I just wanna stay with you” Smeedac said, burying his head back into Odo’s shoulder. Odo sighed again and moved his arms to pick him up. Odo bounced slightly hoping that would do something.

“I’m sorry” Odo said, failing to come up with anything else. He just held Smeedac and rocked back and forth on his heels. Then Odo had an idea. He pulled away from Smeedac as the child rubbed his eyes again. Odo slipped one hand into his facsimile of a pocket and pulled out one slip of latinum. 

“Smeedac I want you to have this” Odo said, holding it up for him to see. Smeedac looked at it for a while before reaching out to grab it.

“What is it?” He asked.

“It’s latinum. It’s a form of currency that the Ferengi primarily use. I usually keep some on me, you never know when it might come in handy” Odo said. Smeedac examined the slip. He turned it over and over, even tried to bite it before Odo stopped him.

“Why did you give me this?” Smeedac said grumpily, it obviously was not enough to make him forget about Odo’s betrayal. Odo scoffed.

“Give? Who said anything about give? This is a loan” Odo said. Smeedac’s face became confused.

“One day, after I find you a nice Ferengi family, I’m going to come back and visit you. And, when I come back, I expect to get my money back, with  _ interest”  _ Odo said, not fighting the slight smile that crept across his face. Smeedac smiled back.

“As long as you have that slip of latinum, then you can rest assured that I will come back one day to collect”

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  
  


“I must say, my Changeling friend, this doesn’t seem like me to be the wisest business decision” Gaagguz said. Odo ignored him. Odo stared ahead at Ornafit who with one hand, was checking out the money transfers and with the other he had a tight grip on Smeedac. 

“Everything seems to be in order here Mr….. Udu?” Ornafit said. Odo held back from rolling his eyes. Odo isn’t that hard to pronounce, he’d done that on purpose to rile him up. No chance, not when his ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-ex-husband’s current preschooler persona’s life was on the line. 

“If you’ll just join me and sign some paperwork” Ornafit said, holding out the padd. Odo walked over cautiously. Then he looked at the padd. It all looked good, he just had to sign and he would technically  _ own  _ Smeedac. 

Odo lifted his hand to give the padd his signature when he felt a thump on the back of his head. He turned quickly and saw one of the two Saurians holding a large pipe over his head. He looked shocked that Odo hadn’t fallen to the ground. Odo quickly extended one of his limbs and wrapped a gooey appendage around the Saurian's throat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw some more movement. Odo shot out another limb to stop them and managed to trip up the other Saurian who looked to be searching for a phaser. 

“Idiots” Gaagguz said. Odo turned toward him and saw him smile as he pressed a button on a small sphere. Immediately Odo began to feel his entire being fall apart as he reverted to his natural state. He tried to maintain his humanoid form but he couldn’t keep himself together. Soon he was a puddle on the floor and he could do nothing about it.

“I told you just wait for me to whip out the polaron emitter. You just can’t listen to directions can you boys” Gaagguz said as he shook his head and walked over to Odo. He stared at Odo, while Odo tried his best to take some sort of form. 

“Is he dead?” said the small voice of Smeedac. Odo turned his attention to him and saw the frightened little Ferengi staring at the puddle in horror.

“Oh no boy, he’s just unable to save you” Ornafit said as he tightened his grip. 

“How do we get rid of him?” Ornafit asked. Gaagguz shrugged.

“Just throw him out the garage chute I guess” Gaagguz said. Odo then felt Gaagguz hands delve deep into him as he tried his best to gather him up.

“Kezka, Gatoco, come help me, he’s getting everywhere” Gaagguz ordered. Two more sets of hands shoved themselves into Odo, much to his discomfort. Odo couldn’t look away from Smeedac. Even as they finally managed to get all of Odo off the floor. He watched as he was slowly shoved into the garbage chute and eventually shot out into the black void of space. Odo floated there as the ship zoomed farther and farther away. 

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Traveling in the void of space as nothing more than a lump of sentient goo was as much of a pain in the ass as you might expect. Not only was it very lonely, but no matter what form you took, it took  **_ages_ ** to get anywhere. 

Odo tried to form one of those spacefaring lifeforms that Laas had taught him about, but that had been almost 900 years ago. It was becoming hard to remember Quark’s face, let alone Laas.

Maybe Odo should try to find him, give up the ghost of chasing Quark till something finally kills him.

Odo’s time alone in space gave him a lot of time to reflect. He hadn’t been like this since before the Bajorans found him. He hadn’t been in his natural state this long since then. Odo also thought about Smeedac. He hoped he was ok, even if the opposite was most likely true. He thought about all the friends he’d lost over the years. He can’t even remember the last time he’d actually considered someone his friend. No one recently.

Eventually, Odo found the atmosphere of a planet and was beamed aboard a ship before he burned up in the atmosphere. Much to his luck, it was a Federation ship. Odo asked them for passage back to the alpha quadrant, and since this was a Federation ship, they were stupid enough to do it without asking for anything in return. 

Apparently, Odo had been drifting in space for nearly 350 years. Odo sighed. He’d probably missed a few lives in that time. Maybe Quark would take it easy on him. Once back to the alpha quadrant, Odo was at a loss as to what to do. The alpha quadrant was different than when he’d left it. More things were the Federation than they weren’t, and the Federation resembled the Dominion more than he cared to think about. The reason he’d left in the first place was because he had nowhere else to go. Did it really matter where he went? Quark would be there anyway, because fuck Odo.

So Odo literally picked a planet at random and headed that way. 

Bryma was an interesting choice, fate???

Odo had known it was a Maquis/Cardassian conflict zone, now it was just another part of the Federation. 

Insidious

  
  


The former weapons depot now was a bustling planet. Mainly rural farmers, but some larger cities cropped up every now and then. 

Odo briefly considered farmer, but he could literally think of nothing worse than that. So he picked the next worse thing.

The medical field.

The training was more complicated that Odo had previously anticipated. The humanoid body was a disgusting mess of flesh and fluids that Odo could never hope to understand. However, Odo powered through enough of it to be handed a certificate and be sent on his way.

Odo got a job in one of the smaller towns in the Southern region of the planet. He cared for the elderly which was better than trying to stitch people together in the larger hospitals. His days were pretty simple. Go to a house, make sure the person was comfortable, leave. Now depending on the species of the humanoid, the difficulty rating changed drastically. Merryl, a human woman, just needed him to take her blood pressure, help her take her medicine, and water her flowers. On the other hand, Pron, a Cardassian man, grumbled and yelled at him constantly as he gave him his insulin or even breathed for that matter. 

One day, Odo was sent to a small house near the town center. Last days type of situation. All you can do is just make them feel comfortable and hold their hand if they are lonely. Odo arrived at the house and it looked homey...lived in. Odo knocked on the door a few times but didn’t hear anything. He then tried the door handle and it opened. Nice. He didn’t have to squeeze under the door frame this time! No lights were on in the house.

“Computer, lights to 100 percent” Odo said. Suddenly the light illuminated the entire room. 

It was ugly as sin. 

Velvet wallpaper, four chandeliers in the living room if Odo was counting correctly, and a solid gold ashtray sat completely unused on the Amargosan marble coffee table. Odo looked around for a second room and saw a small doorway draped on either side with gaudy gold silk drapes. Odo walked towards it begrudgingly. Odo was not looking forward to meeting whoever chose to live this way. There were two doors at the end of the short hallway, but one of them had faint light shining out from under the bottom of the door. Odo knocked on that door a few times and waited for an answer.

Nothing.

Odo knocked again, this time a little more forcefully.

“Mr. Nomram…..I here to administer your medication” Odo said. Again no response. Odo harrumphed.

“MR. NOMRAM” Odo yelled as he beat on the door.

“whAATTT” Yelled a voice from the other side of the door. Odo his eyes.

“MR. NOMRAM I’M HERE TO ADMINISTER YOUR MEDICATION. I’M COMING IN NOW” Odo yelled as he turned the doorknob. The room was just as gaudy as the living room. Except this had a few items of medical equipment. An IV stand by the bed, oxygen tank, the usual fair. Towards the center of the room, along the along was a large bed with Mr. Nomram lying it in.

“Well….this might as well happen” Odo mumbled to himself. Mr. Nomram happened to be a frail, wrinkly old Ferengi. 

You don’t have to guess who he was do you?

“Whaddya say?” Said Nomram at a louder than necessary volume. Odo walked forward towards the old man.

“I’m here to take care of you” Odo said. Even though he probably still didn’t hear him, Nomram nodded. Odo set down his medical bag on the edge of the bed and opened it. He pulled out a few hyposprays and a pressure cuff.

“I don’t know why you are even bothering. I’m a dead man walking….or laying?” Nomram said. Odo ignored him and turned to check his IV. 

“I’m just trying to make sure you die correctly Mr. Nomram” Odo said, not turning to him. He imagined that this perked the Ferengi’s interest.

“What now?” Nomram asked, and Odo held back his smile at the slight outrage in his voice.

“You have Ziraba’s Disorder which means that your body will slowly deteriorate, but ultimately you will die in your sleep. That is, you will die that way as long as I or someone else takes care of you. Otherwise, you might choke on your own vomit or you become so filthy parts of your body begin to rot off. Those aren’t the nicest ways to die and they look bad on a death certificate, so I’m here to make sure you die with dignity” Odo said as he continued on with checking Nomram’s blood pressure. Nomram’s mouth was slightly open. Odo huffed.

“Close your mouth you look like an idiot” Odo snapped as he removed the pressure cuff.

“Do you talk like this to all your patients?” Nomram asked.

“No, only the Ferengi ones” Odo said as he pulled out a hypospray and checked the liquid volume.

“Oh I see, another racist” Nomram said with a huff. Odo pressed the hypospray into his arm harshly so it stung. Nomram jumped slightly and clutched his arm.

“OW” 

“Get over it” Odo said, pulling out another hypospray. Nomram eyed him.

“You didn’t deny hating the Ferengi. A pure, innocent, driven people” Nomram said. Odo rolled his eyes.

“Quite the opposite. I don’t hate the Ferengi. I’ve lived with them for the majority of my life. I only treat them this way because I know you don’t respond to anything other than hostility and oo-mox” Odo said administering another hypospray, gentler this time. Nomram smiled.

“Since you mentioned oo-mox?????” Nomram said, wiggling his shoulders. Odo huffed a laugh.

“In your dreams” Odo scoffed as he began to put his supplies away. Nomram’s smile didn’t leave but he looked Odo up and down.

“You aren’t….hew-mon are you” He stated. Odo turned his glare onto him.

“What gave it away. The face or the fact that I’m willing to put up with you” Odo said. Nomram chuckled. Odo picked up his medical bag up off of the bed and set it on the floor. Then he went and pulled back the thick blanket on top of Nomram.

“I try not to judge based on looks” Nomram joked. Odo huffed and began to pull up the sheets and roll them under Nomram.

“Good, because you wouldn’t have a leg to stand on” Odo shot back. Odo looked around the room and saw an ornate dresser in the corner of the room. Odo went over to it and opened the drawers until he found a set of sheets. 

“What are you then?” Nomram said loudly. Odo shut the door and walked back over to the bed with the sheets.

“I’m a changeling, rollover please” Odo said as he began to roll on the new sheets. 

“A changeling!.....Haven’t heard about one of those in a while” Nomram said as he rolled over and Odo changed the sheet under him. 

“We don’t get around much” Odo said as Nomram rolled back over. Instead of walking over to the other side of the bed, Odo just shifted his arms longer to finish changing the sheet. Nomram looked at him in amusement. 

“Oh I would have had fun with you when I was younger” Nomram said with a creepy smile. Odo went back over to the dresser and found another thick blanket that he brought back to the bed.

“I don’t go for younger men'' Odo threw back. Nomram huffed out a laugh.

“Younger? What are you….thirty??” Nomram said. Odo sighed as he threw the blanket over him.

“Well, technically I just turned….” Odo looked up as he did the math.

“I’ll be 1,129 in a few months….so close” Odo joked. Nomram’s mouth dropped slightly but turned into another nasty smile.

“I can go for an older man” Nomram said, wiggling his shoulders again. Odo rolled his eyes.

“I need to update my office on your condition. Your file doesn’t mention all these grand delusions that you are having” Odo shot back as the smoothed down the blanket. Odo looked at his handy work and nodded before picking up his medical bag.

“I’m done with you today so I will be going” Odo said as he turned to the door.

“HEY….tell your boss not to send over those other nurses. Only send you. I like you” Nomram said (yelled). Odo turned back towards him.

“I’ll make note of it in your file”

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“I’ll be leaving now”

“Can’t you stay?” Nomram said with a whine. Odo turned back around.

“You always just do your job and leave right away. I don’t see anyone anymore besides you. I need someone to talk to” Nomram said. Odo sighed and turned back around. As he did, he shifted his lower half into some chair legs and sat by Nomram’s bedside. 

“Gross….but I like it” Nomram said with a smile. Odo shook his head. 

“So, what’s new in your life” Nomram asked, in a very Quark cadence. Odo shrugged.

“Absolutely nothing” Odo replied. Nomram frowned.

“You can’t mean  _ nothing _ . What do you do for fun? Seeing anyone?” He asked. 

“I go to work, go home, read, regenerate, and repeat” Odo said. Nomram rolled his eyes. 

“That’s all….how am I supposed to live vicariously through that?” He moaned. Odo shrugged.

“Are all changelings this boring?” Nomram asked.

“Most changelings start inter-quadrant wars for fun....so I think everyone would prefer it if I just continued to read my novels” Odo said. Nomram wrinkled his forehead. 

“War? Did we go to war with you?” He asked. That shocked Odo.

“It was a long time ago and I didn’t fight against the solids” Odo answered. The Dominion War was over a thousand years ago?

“Figures. You’d never do anything so interesting as that” Nomram said with a huff. Odo crossed his arms.

“I did all sorts of fun stuff in my day” Nomram said, chest puffed. Odo huffed.

“Knowing the Ferengi, fun probably means illegal” Odo shot back. 

“Oh no never. I was AND continue to be an honest businessman” Nomram defended. Odo nodded his head slowly.

“Of course” Odo said sarcastically. 

“Energy whip manufacturing is very profitable, I didn’t need to do any shady dealings. Especially once I got the contract with the Alliance military. I had more profit than I knew what to do with” Nomram bragged. Odo looked out at the room in an obvious attempt to ignore Nomram bragging about profits. 

“Uh...you said you read, what are you reading right now” Nomram said, getting the hit. Odo tensed.

“It’s unimportant” Odo said. Nomram frowned.

“If you read so much I can’t imagine that it’s not important. Come on, what is it? Terran fantasy? Cardassian repetitive epic?” Nomram pushed. Odo shuffled.

“They are from Bajor and they are usually about stories about….attachment and Bajoran courtship rituals and how those rituals impact the lives of Bajorans'' Odo said. He hated the grin that spread across Nomram’s face.

“You….Read…..Bajoran Romance Novels!” He said with such excitement. Odo grumbled and rolled his eyes. Nomram started to chuckled.

“Why?! Do YOU read Bajoran ROMANCE novels” He said, laughing all the while. Odo grumbled some more.

“I was raised on Bajor” Odo said. 

“That is NOT an answer” Nomram said. Odo began to shift his legs, to show that he was leaving but Nomram put his hands out to stop him.

“Don’t go I’m sorry” He said through his laughter. Odo sat down reluctantly. Nomram smiled softly at Odo then looked down at his blanket as he smoothed it out.

“My wife liked romance novels. She preferred Terrans ones though” Nomram said. Odo softened his glare.

“You had a wife?” Odo asked. Besides Adren he hadn’t really confronted Quark being married to anyone else since that first reincarnation (and did that really count?). 

“Oh yeah, that’s how I got into the energy whip business” Nomram said. Odo must have looked confused because Nomram explained. 

“Are you familiar with the Rules of Acquisition?” He asked. Odo nodded.

“Well Rules of Acquisition number 112 says ‘you should never have sex with your boss’ sister’ which is true. What you  _ should  _ do is marry his only daughter, that way you can inherit all of his assets when he finally kicks the bucket” Nomram said with a smile. Odo held back a smirk, no need to give him any satisfaction. 

“Is that so? You don’t sound like you liked your father-in-law very much” Odo said. Nomram shrugged.

“Oh, he wasn’t so bad. Good business sense….and he really loved his daughter which I understand” Nomram answered back, nodding slowly. 

“What was she like….your wife?” Odo asked. Nomram looked at him and smiled.

“She was a very good woman. Her father was this big bold businessman but she was the total opposite. She was so quiet and kind. She took in stray animals all the time. She just couldn’t turn any of them away. Our house was overrun by fangcats and Pyrithian bats, drove me up the wall” Nomram said fondly. Odo felt him smile.

“Sounds like you loved her” Odo commented. Nomram nodded.

“She was better than I probably deserved” He said looking back down at the blanket. 

“Was it just the two of you?” Odo asked. Nomram didn’t say anything for a few moments, then he let out a sigh.

“No, we had two boys, Monad and Marmon, idiots the both of them. They decided they both wanted to try and be DaiMons and got themselves blown up for their trouble” Nomram said, picking at a stray thread.

“I’m sorry” Odo said. Nomram shook his head and looked at Odo.

“No it’s fine, it was a long time ago” He answered back.

“Yazenna didn’t take it well though, she didn’t last much longer after that. She got some flu a few years later and just didn’t fight it…..now it’s just me” Nomram finished, faintly smiling at Odo.

“What about you….were you ever married?” Nomram asked. Odo faltered for a second.

“Technically three times, but actually only twice” Odo said. Nomram’s face wrinkled in confuson.

“That seems like there is a story attached” Nomram questioned. Odo rolled his eyes.

“Trust me, it isn’t half as interesting as it sounds” Odo said. Nomram shrugged.

“But still only two? Seems low for over a thousand years of life” He said back. Odo shrugged.

“Those were the only times it felt right” Odo answered honestly. Nomram nodded.

“Let me guess. Your first wife was a Bajoran…..probably a Bajoran scientist. A very smart lady, very classy. Your second wife….she was probably a little nasty. Maybe a Dabo girl, it’d explain why you know how to get under a Ferengi’s skin. She might have been Bajoran but I think you mixed it up and married a hew-mon…..am I right” Nomram said, going on a wild tangent that seemed to  _ greatly  _ entertain him.

“My husband’s name was Quark and my wife’s name was Miasha” Odo said flatly, crossing his arms. Nomram’s smiled faded slightly with confusion. 

“Ferengi?? You married two Ferengi?” He said. Odo nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell me?? Why keep it a secret?” Nomram asked in disbelief. Odo shrugged.

“I didn’t think it was a secret, you’ve just never asked before” Odo said. Nomram began to shake his head.

“I can’t believe this….you’re probably only here to ogle my hot bod” He said as he clutched at his imaginary pearls. Odo couldn’t roll his eyes harder.

“You’re being delusional again” Odo said with a grumble. Nomram waved him off.

“What were they like? I just can’t imagine that’d you’d meshed well with a Ferengi. You seem to barely contain your dislike of me” Nomram said. Odo sighed. He was about to explain Quark and Quark to Quark.

“They were both very outgoing, loud…. _ very loud _ ” Odo groaned. Odo missed them dearly but his ears didn’t.

“Miasha was a female revolutionary, she tried to get female rights back after Grand Nagus Pleno took them away” Odo said. Nomram scoffed.

“That didn’t go well” He said. Odo shrugged.

“She got some laws reinstated, but she took a lot of time off to help raise our sons” Odo explained. Nomram’s eyes widened.

“You have children????” He said, more shocked than before.

“Had” Odo said simply. Nomram’s face fell.

“Oh”

“It was a long time ago, and I got a lot of years with them” Odo said, trying to make it seem better. Nomram’s browridge furrowed.

“Why are you here? Why aren’t you with your family?” Nomram asked. 

“I stayed till they died, but elders are supposed to die off. I could have stayed but in a few hundred years I’d just be some old relic that no one alive cared about. So I left” Odo said. It was one of the hardest decisions he had ever made, but it was the right one. Before he left he saw how his descendants rarely talked to or visited him, and even when they did it was only out of obligation. That was fine. They had to move on with their lives and he needed to move on with his. Nomram nodded in understanding.

“What was your husband like? Was he the nasty one?” Nomram said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. Odo tilted his head.

“Yes?” Odo said, unsure. Nomram burst out laughing and Odo followed suit.

“I knew….I knew you liked ‘em nasty” Nomram said in between sharp inhales. 

“Quark was…..well he was Quark” Odo said, not knowing how to describe him. 

“Amorous….adventurous…...daring…..outrageous” Nomram listed off smiling from ear to ear. Odo rolled his eyes.

“No, more like deplorable, impetuous, intolerant, egotistical, and a tightwad” Odo said with a huff. Nomram calmed his laughter.

“You don’t seem to have liked him very much” Nomram said. Odo shook his head.

“I loved him more profoundly than you can even comprehend” Odo said with 100% seriousness. The simple fact that he was here right now proved that. Nomram looked at Odo, then began to nod his head slowly.

“Oh….you had one of  _ those  _ relationships” He said, turning his gaze away from Odo to just smile at the wall in front of him. Odo’s brow furrowed.

“Excuse me?” Odo said. Nomram flicked his eyes over to him.

“Oh, you know. Those relationships where you pretend to hate each other. In public, you’re always fighting and insulting each other. Then you get home and take out all your frustrations on eachother” Nomram said with a smirk.

“Quark and I never hit each other” Odo said very seriously. Nomram just smiled and shook his head.

“Oh no, I’m not saying you ever hit each other…..but you definitely hit that” Nomram said, still smiling like an idiot. Odo was even more confused.

“How can I hit him without hitting him?” Odo said. Nomram was fully giggling at this point.

“Oh you know Odo….you gave him the business” Nomram said. Odo shook his head.

“No, Quark did all the business stuff. I don’t care about profit” Odo told him. Shouldn’t that be obvious? Nomram rolled his eyes and raised his arms in the air only to smack them back down on the bed.

“My Blessed Exchequer Odo, I’m trying to say you fucked the shit out of him” Nomram spit out. Odo felt his jaw drop slightly and struggled to find something to say. 

“What? Gonna try and argue with me? Tell me I’m not right?” Nomram said in a ‘try me bitch’ kind of way. Odo opened and closed his mouth looking for the words he wanted to say…..but none ever came to him. So he just simply closed his mouth and looked down.

“I knew it” Nomram said, pleased with himself.

“It is frankly none of your business and I would like to talk about something else” Odo said, looking up to glare at Nomram. Was it technically his business????

“Fine then. What did your egotistical, impetuous, crazy-in-the-sack husband do for a living?” Nomram said smirking. Odo intensified his glare.

“He was a bartender at a bar he owned” Odo said. Nomram’s eyes widened.

“ A bartender!!??! You married a Ferengi bartender??” Nomram said. Odo was liking this conversation less and less as it went on.

“I didn’t comment on your spouse I don’t know why you are nit-picking mine” Odo stated. Nomram raised his hands defensively.

“I’m sorry it’s just a little unusual. It’s like seeing a Vulcan kolinahr master married to an Orion slave girl” Nomram defended. Odo felt his face scrunch up in confusion. That was not his relationship with Quark. Odo was not a Vulcan and Quark was CERTAINLY not appealing enough to be an Orion slave girl. 

“Were you a nurse then?” Nomram asked.

“No I was the head of security for a space station” Odo said. Nomram nodded, seeming to be impressed.

“Nice job, what made you switch to nursing?” Nomram asked. Odo opened his mouth, but that was a longer answer than Nomram was expecting.

“We stayed on the station for a while, then Quark and I retired to Ferenginar. After he died I drifted and holed myself up in a few places. I eventually went back and did some security work there, but it felt….wrong. The whole place felt haunted. Not just by him, but by all the other friends I had known there. So I left. I did a couple….odd jobs in between but now I’m a nurse because I don’t know where else to go or what else to do” Odo said. Nomram nodded.

“I have a house, a big house, about 40 miles outside the city. I haven’t laid eyes on that thing in….oh probably over two hundred years” Nomram shared.

“Why?” Odo asked.

“Well….my sons died and then Yazenna died and I would just walk around that big empty house and I’d see them everywhere. I’d notice that the rug needs cleaning and I’d think about how when the boys were little they would play and wrestle each other on that rug to the point that we had to buy another one because they wore a big hole in the middle. Then I’ll look out the back window to the garden and I would just wish and hope that Yazenna would come bounding up with some pitiful looking animal under her arm that she wanted to rescue. I couldn’t take it. I moved out as soon as I could” Nomram said. 

“I thought it would get easier over time, but it didn’t. I’d always try to go back in, clean up the place, live there again, but the farthest I ever got was that one time I almost touched the doorknob” Nomram said with a little chuckled. Odo sighed.

“I go back too often”

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Odo swirled around in his bucket until he heard a large alert sound. Quickly, he manifested into his humanoid form and went towards it. His communicator was buzzing, so Odo picked it up.

“Odo here” He said. Odo looked at the clock on his wall and it read 3:32 AM. Odo groaned and shook his head.

“Odo we need you” 

“At 3:32, you know I’m not responsible for helping clean up the dead ones”

“It’s Mr. Nomram….he….it’s time”

Odo stopped simulated his breathing.

“Is anyone else there right now?” He asked.

“No, we tried to send Ciwe over there but when she got there he wouldn’t stop yelling at her till she left and we called you”

Odo rolled his eyes. Quark can’t even die without being a pain.

“I’ll be right there”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Odo arrived at Nomram’s door and let himself in as he had always done since he’d first visited. Nomram was still in his bed, but he looked a lot paler and his eyes were closed.

“Nomram?” Odo asked as he walked over to the bed. A chair, a large overstuffed monstrosity, had been put there after Odo had to make his own. He had tried to argue that it made no difference to him, but Nomram wouldn’t hear of it. Odo looked over at the heart monitor next to his bed. It was still there beating away, but it was weaker than usual.

Nomram slowly opened his eyes to look at Odo. Slowly his mouth spread into a small smile.

“You came” He said, with a gravelly voice. Odo sat down and put one hand on the bed.

“Of course I came….you literally scared off all the other nurses” Odo said, unable to hold back a smirk. Nomram began to chuckle but it quickly developed into a harsh cough. Odo looked over to the side table, there was a glass of water, probably put there by the other nurse before Nomram ran her off. Odo grabbed it and held the glass up to his mouth. Nomram coughed a little as he drank it down, but the water seemed to make it stop for now. 

“I didn’t want those other nurses here. They wouldn’t care. They are only here to collect their profit and dump my body in a river” Nomram grumbled. 

“I’d have thought you would have appreciated their singular focus on profit.” Odo said. Nomram scrunched up his face.

“Not at my expense!” He said, almost offended that Odo had even said it. Nomram turned his head slightly and looked directly at Odo.

“Truth is…..I wanted someone here who would miss me when I’m gone” Nomram said. He lifted a frail arm and put his hand on top of Odo’s.

“I’d miss you about as much as Ferenginar misses rain” Odo said back. Nomram shook his head.

“I’m serious Odo, stop playing with me, I’m not Quark” 

Any smile on Odo’s face was gone. His chest started to ache all of a sudden. This was Quark. It always was, even when it isn’t which it hasn’t been for a long time. It’s always going to not be Quark. He’s just going to keep doing this over and over and over and over and over and over again till the universe dies. He’ll be a million years old and he will still be following Quark and his ghosts. He has a hard time remembering his face, his voice nowadays. What if one day he just forgets all together. He’ll just be putting himself through all this for nothing he even remembers. Or maybe he’ll just drop it. He’ll forget and move on like he should have a thousand years ago. But then it meant nothing. All the love and time and effort and patience Odo poured into these people, this person, it’s just gone. It meant nothing. His husband, dust, his children dust, himself….still the spineless pile of goo that he always was. It will never stop, it never meant anything, It Will Never Stop It Never Meant Anything IT WILL NEVER STOP IT NEVER MEANT ANYTHING ITWILLNEVERSTOPITNEVERMEANTANYTHINGITWILLNEVERSTOPITNEVERMEANTANYTHING **ITWILLNEVERSTOPITNEVERMEANTANYTHING**

“ODO” Nomram yelled, finally catching Odo’s attention. Odo whipped his head back around to face him. 

“Are you ok….you stopping looking at me and then you started to….melt” Nomram said, grasping Odo’s hand. Odo did a mental check of his body and began to firm up the parts of him that had started to revert back to his natural state.

“I-I-I……” Odo began, but couldn’t finish. Nomram only grew more worried but was mostly helpless to do anything, so he just began to stroke the back of Odo’s hand with his thumb. Odo looked at their hands and took a deep breath to center himself.

“I think I’m having a panic attack” Odo said. Nomram nodded.

“Do you need to go?” Nomram asked, sliding his hand away. Odo grabbed his hand, probably a little too hard, and held it right where it was.

“No, I need to be here” Odo said. Nomram nodded and continued to hold Odo’s hand. Odo felt like garbage. Nomram was literally dying and here he was...comforting Odo in his last moments. They sat in silence for a long time. Odo tried to regulate his thoughts and calm down but it had escaped him thus far. Every once in a while, Nomram would cough and that only served to restart the initial panic all over again. 

“Did I ever tell you about my first job?” Nomram asked, breaking the long silence. Odo looked at him and shook his head. Nomram smirked.

“So when I was a kid I only had one goal in life and that was to be the CEO of Slug-o-Cola” Nomram said, looking to Odo for a laugh. Odo did not give him one. 

“I had this whole plan laid out. I would start at the bottom, pay my dues, work really hard, and eventually….the river would provide and I’d get to be the CEO” Nomram explained.

“Now I don’t have to tell you that I was never the CEO of Slug-o-Cola….so what happened you might ask WELL I’ll tell you” Nomram said, being as animated as he could.

“It was my first day on the job at the factory in Bowog, I was like a secretary for one of the floor managers. I was supposed to file papers, get drinks, stuff like that. Anyways, the first day this bigwig from corporate comes down to the factory to get a tour. I think they had just implemented some new equipment and they wanted to see how it was doing. So the floor manager is taking him on a tour, and I’m there in case they need anything. So we’re walking on this bridge over one of the mixing pots looking down into this massive vat of fresh Slug-o-Cola. And…...I just fell in” Nomram said with a sigh.

“I still believe ADAMANTLY that those handrails weren’t up to code, but it doesn’t matter because either way, I ended up in the damn vat. You ever swam in Slug-o-Cola…...not as nice as it sounds” Nomram ranted. Odo felt a small smirk tug at the corner of his mouth. 

“Do you know what happened next?” Nomram asked Odo. Odo shrugged.

“You had to lift yourself out and continue the tour dripping wet?” Odo guessed. Nomram scoffed.

“Oh no I was fired on the spot and charged for damages” Nomram said, apparently still salty about it all these years later. 

“And in case you were wondering, YES, a huge vat of Slug-o-Cola IS very expensive. It completely wiped out my savings” Nomram said with a defeated sigh.

“What did you do then?” Odo asked. 

“The only thing I could do. I hopped on the cheapest ship off Ferenginar and let it take me wherever the hell it was going. I wound up on some backwater Federation planet. Had to take the first job I could find, which was a janitorial position at a tiny energy whip distribution facility” Nomram said. Odo nodded.

“You know….janitorial work gives you a lot of time to think about what you really want in life” Nomram said. 

“What did you really want?” Odo asked. Nomram looked directly at Odo.

“I wanted the pretty female who was always in her father’s office when I came in to take out the trash can liners” Nomram said. Odo couldn’t help but smile and Nomram smiled back.

“Odo…..I think you are so….caught up in what you should do and what’s right to do that you don’t ever consider what you want to do?” Nomram said, his smile gone and now replaced with worry. Odo frowned and looked away.

“You don’t want to be here. I honestly can’t think of a bigger waste than to have you nurse people back to health just for them to die a few weeks later” Nomram said

“Odo….what do you want?” Nomram asked. Odo didn’t look up, he just side-eyed their clasped hands. The heart monitor was beeping slower than it had when Odo had initially come into the room and it was filling him with a deep sense of dread.

“I want to talk to someone about what’s going on” Odo said, as something tightened in his chest. 

“Oh, do you need….a counselor or something?” Nomram asked. Odo shook his head and looked up towards the ceiling.

“No, I need to talk to someone who actually understands what’s going on, someone who gets it….and they don’t exist” Odo nearly yelled. Silence hovered in the room for a moment.

“What is going on?” Nomram asked, squeezing Odo’s hand. Odo finally looked at him. He couldn’t. He didn’t need that. It wasn’t fair. 

But this whole situation wasn’t fair.

“You are dying soon right?” Odo asked. Nomram put on an annoyed frown.

“Way to be sensitive Odo” He said. Odo shook his head.

“I can’t talk to you about this unless it just stays between you and me” Odo said. Nomram scrunched his face up.

“What’s with all the rules?” Nomram said. Odo opened his mouth but paused. 

“I guess...there are no rules” Odo admitted. 

“Then just spill and let it all out” Nomram egged him on. Odo looked at him and took in a deep breath.

“So….I was married to Quark” Odo began

“And I was with him for...the majority of his life, and then he died. A few days before he died, he asked me to stay with him forever. He wanted me to find him after he was born again and be in his life. I….I didn’t want to lose him so I agreed that I’d try, but I thought there was no way I could ever find him or that I would even know it was him if I found him” Odo continued.

“But when I went back on DS9….I saw him. He wasn’t my Quark, he looked nothing like him, but I just knew it was him. I don’t know if it’s a Changeling thing or a Ferengi thing or maybe the Prophets are involved…..I just know that every time  _ Quark  _ dies….I always find them and I always know.” Odo explained. He looked at Nomram and he didn’t seem to be horrified or even shocked. He just looked sad.

“At first it freaked me out and I tried to run from it, but Quark found me. He always finds me. After seeing him at DS9 I booked it for the last place that I knew Quark would show up, Starfleet. But come thirty or so years and some young Ferengi shows up and I almost passed out because he’s right there and….and I can’t escape. I tried wrestling with this then and I just came to the conclusion that if I can’t escape it then I needed to just accept it. But by the time I decided that….he died….and I hadn’t even said a word to him” Odo recounted. 

“And I felt guilty...because I had promised Quark but….I honestly didn’t think that it was something I would have to do” Odo said. 

“Then….I met Miasha, and she…..she was Quark and perfect and it felt like I had him back. I got to have a redo. I got to fix all the mistakes I made with Quark and I treated her like I should have treated him sometimes. But it...it ended the same….. **_fucking_ ** way. She died and it didn’t matter that we had a life together or that we had a family or that she was a better person than 99% of the people that were still alive. Then my fuc….”

“.....my kids”

Odo didn’t talk for a long time.

“Adren was a handful and I honestly stumbled into all of that. I think I’d finally come to terms with the fact that this was just the rest of my life and I tried not to think about it. I was...just going to be his bodyguard and stay with him till he didn’t want me anymore….but then he died because I didn’t do my job right. I’d been doing security work for over 500 years and when it finally came down a life or death moment I failed disastrously” Odo said as Nomram winced.

“I fled that whole situation and I wanted nothing to do with justice or security or keeping anyone safe….I didn’t have the right. I didn’t want to have to look at Quark’s face again knowing that I was the reason that he died. So I tried to leave….but this  _ curse  _ just keeps finding me…..He was five years old…..he was a slave to some awful Bolian. I tried to buy his freedom….I promised him I would keep him safe….but I failed again” Odo continued. Now Odo’s looked up directly at Nomram.

“I was only in space for a long time, but when I finally got planetside….within a few years, I found you. Because I always find you” Odo said. He saw tears welling up in his eyes.

“But...I wasn’t there for your life and….it was great. You had an amazing family and a wife you loved and you’re rich…..you don’t need me like Quark said” Odo finally got off his chest what he’d thought this entire time.

“Every time I show up I ruin your life. I got Fayavar and Adren killed. Miasha didn’t accomplish near what she wanted to because of me….and who the hell knows what happened to Smeedac…..how old even are you?!?” Odo began to rant.

“I’m 346” Nomram said quietly. Odo stopped simulating his breathing. The heart monitor beeps continued to slow down.

“He...he was seven…..God. Damn.  **Seven.** ” Odo said, letting go of Nomram’s hand and covering his face. Odo wished he could sob. They all deserved Odo having a full breakdown. 

“I’m sorry” Nomram managed to finally say. Odo took a few deep breaths in and felt the air come into his body and dissipate through his form. 

“If it makes you feel any better, I don’t think Quark knew what he was asking of you. I don’t think he expected this to be an actual thing” Nomram said. Odo lifted his head from his hands and looked at him.

“You don’t know that” Odo said. 

“Well, I wouldn’t ask you to do that knowing what I know….and I’m Quark, so, therefore...he wouldn’t have done it either” Nomram argued.

“I don’t think that’s how it works” Odo said. 

“Are we all drastically different or something?” Nomram asked.

“You are all...unique, but at your core, you are all exactly the same” Odo told him. Nomram nodded his head.

“Therefore…..I’m right” Nomram said. Odo couldn't help it and he dropped his head to the bed and began to chuckle. Nomram began laughing as well but started coughing again. Odo lifted his head and reached back over to the glass of water. He held it back up to Nomram and let him drink.

“Now I know why you are so good at this...you’ve done it a bunch” Nomram said as his voice came back to him. Odo sighed.

“That I know of, you’ve only died of old age twice” Odo said as he placed the glass back on the side table. He looked back at Nomram who looked slightly disturbed.

“That doesn’t say great things about me” Nomram said. Odo shrugged.

“Rather it doesn’t say great things about me” Odo mumbled. Nomram rolled his eyes.

“Odo….what if their lives were good because you came into them” Nomram said.

Odo looked at him.

“Ok that sounded wrong”

“Gross”

“DON’T DISTRACT ME…...Odo...what if you improved our lives and our lives would have just been absolute shit without you” Nomram asked. Odo crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair.

“I doubt that” Odo grumbled. 

“Hey listen, from what I know about Grand Nagus Adren….he should have died A LOT sooner than he did. The man practically had a death wish” Nomram said. Odo was not convinced and he let it show.

“And your wife...she didn’t accomplish all that she wanted, but what if she accomplished what she did because you were there for her. And besides, that, who says you knew exactly what her life goals were. Maybe she wanted to settle down with you and have a family.” Nomram argued.

“And as for the kid….you were probably the first person to actually care about him. I’m not going to say that the rest of his life wasn’t awful, but for the brief time that you were there, you made it better” Nomram said

“But your-”

“Odo my entire family died” Nomram said, silencing Odo. 

“And I’m trying to not be offended by you saying that you haven’t been in my life but I’m not doing a great job. Where do you think you’ve been the past few months? I haven’t had a genuine, true friend in years. I….I was scared shitless of dying because no one was going to be there to hold my hand and tell me that everything was going to be ok. Then you showed up, because you always do, and you made my life better. I get to die now...knowing that I didn’t do it alone. That someone, in this century, cared about me. That...that means everything to me. I guess I kinda get why I asked you to stay with me all those years ago, but….as a spokesperson for the Quarks to come….we also care about you. We care that you are happy. None of us want you to have to keep watching us die over and over again, that’s awful. There is the...the Nomram part of me that wants you to stay….but there is also the deeper part of me, the part of me that has fallen in love with you over and over again...that wants you to just leave and be free…..I guess what I’m trying to say is….if you stay, ok, if you don’t, ok. But it’s up to you and only you” Nomram said. Odo didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t thought about not following after Quark since he was in Starfleet. It always just seemed to be the thing he would be doing for the rest of his life. 

“I think the reason I haven’t left is that I don’t know how to go?” Odo started.

“I don’t know how to not be in your life. I don’t really know who I am without you” Odo finished. Nomram sighed.

“You could go back home, where ever that is?” Nomram offered. Odo shook his head.

“The Great Link? I can’t go back there, I left for a reason?” Odo huffed out.

“What was the reason?” Nomram asked. Odo crossed his arms.

“In the Great Link, you are one but many. It’s like an extremely big body and you make up a small portion of it. So when something is wrong, your entire body just focuses on it. It’s kind of like having a toothache”

“I take it you were the bad tooth” Nomram said. Odo nodded.

“I was told to purge myself or leave the Link….so I left” Odo said.

“Purge yourself of what” Nomram asked.

“Longing….I wanted my old life back, even though I loved being a part of the Link. I wanted to patrol the Promenade….see my friend Kira-”

“See Quark” Nomram added. Odo shrugged.

“When I left I didn’t even say goodbye to him. We weren’t together, in fact, I still considered him to be my greatest enemy…..but I still cared about him. I thought he knew that so I didn’t have to say it, but the more I stayed in the Link, the more I knew I was wrong. It was killing me and it bothered the Link enough to kick me out until I resolved my issue. I think they believed that I’d come back-”

“If I’m getting this whole thing correctly, I think they knew you were never going to come back” Nomram said. Odo paused for a while and then nodded. 

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that that decision didn’t disappoint them” Odo said. Nomram huffed.

“Fuck ‘em” He said simply. Odo whipped his head around to glare at him.

“You know what, don’t go back to the  _ Great Link,  _ they sound like dicks” Nomram grumbled. Odo chuckled.

“And another thing! You left me forever without even saying  **_goodbye!!!!!_ ** ” Nomram said offendedly. Odo rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Can we not? I got enough of this from Quark. He never let it go” Odo moaned. 

“I don’t blame him...and you know what, I am him, so fuck off  **I’m Still Mad About It** ” Nomram whined. Odo was trying to hold in a laugh.

“You’re just trying to make me feel better aren’t you” Odo asked. Nomram dropped his angry face into a sympathetic one.

“Maybe” He said. Odo let himself smile. Nomram smiled up weakly and Odo watched as his eyes became droopy. Odo glanced up at the heart monitor again and saw that it was slowing down even more. 

“I think I need to head out now, give someone else a shot” Nomram murmured. Odo tried to smile though. Nomram smirked and lifted his hand up. Odo immediately took it. 

“I’d say I’ll see you on the flip side but I don’t want to hold you to anything” Nomram joked. Odo smirked. It clicked.

“I always come back….I don’t think I’m capable of leaving” Odo said/ Nomram smiled wide.

“I’ll try to make it easy for you then”

Nomram closed his eyes.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


A few decades later, Odo and one vacuum-desiccation disk were on a ship heading for DS9. Odo hadn’t been on the station since that horrible first reincarnation. When Odo arrived he nearly gasped. 

DS9 looked NOTHING like it had when he was here. All of the Cardassian architecture was gone, replaced by clean sleek Federation lines, with a few Bajoran touches thrown in here and there. The basic layout was the same. Large promenade, the command center was in the same spot, the habitat rings were still there. No large difference except for a massive unused space on the Promenade. Odo stared up and at the three levels of what used to be Quark’s, completely unused.

“Whatcha looking at buddy?” said a voice from beside Odo. Odo looked and saw a young Vulcan? Romulan? He could never tell the difference. Either way, they had short hair and were wearing what passed as a Federation uniform these days (Operations wearing red?? the nerve).

“How long has this unit been empty?” Odo asked, pointing at what used to be Quark’s. The Vulcan/Romulan shrugged.

“Oh, a long time. It’s really expensive to rent out so it’s kinda just been sitting here. They tried to break up the floors into separate units a few years ago but the Commander thinks that ruins the ‘beauty of the property’ or whatever” They told him. Odo nodded.

Perfect.

“Do you know someone I could talk to about doing some advertising?” Odo asked. The Vulcan/Romulan looked confused.

“Um….try the second level. The shop next to the Rigelian restaurant” They said. Odo nodded and walked away.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~

  
  


“How much for a large advertisement on Ferenginar?”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~

  
  


**_SEEKING BUSINESS PARTNER_ **

_ Interested in a new adventure? Looking to break into the entertainment and restaurateur business? Tired of boring pacts and documents? Consider yourself a “people-person”? Do you want to own your own bar and not have to put up any capital????? If yes, then this is the partnership for you. A business partner has lots of start-up funds but is looking for a special businessperson to take their investment to the next level. No online inquiries face to face only. _

_ -O _

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  


Odo hadn’t heard much back on his ad. Until yesterday. Aabbin, one of the ensigns that manned the loading docks, said they had gotten a docking request from Ferenginar. It could mean nothing, but Odo was hopeful. 

The ship was scheduled to arrive at 3, Odo was there by 1:30. Odo just sat on a bench near the docks and waited.

The odds of this working in his favor were very slim, but Odo seemed to have pretty decent luck when it came to this sort of thing. 

“Get a reply to your ad?” said a person sitting down next to Odo. 

“Maybe, I’m not sure” Odo replied. 

“That’s what you get for not putting any contact information on it” They said, mockingly. Odo rolled his eyes. Odo turned to his Vulcan/Romulan companion and glared.

“I have a process” Odo said. They rolled their eyes.

“Your process is dumb” They said in return. 

“If you think it is so dumb Cimona, then why do you continue to bother me about it” Odo grumbled.

“Because this is the most interesting thing that has happened on this station in forever. All us ensigns are talking about it” Cimona said. Odo crossed his arms and grumbled to himself.

“You are ruining what is supposed to be a good day for me” Odo shot back.

“And you’re ruining a very juicy gossip mill” Cimona said.

“Don’t you have a job to do or something?” Odo asked. 

“Yes, my job is to assist in ensuring the security of this station. One way I’m doing that is by investigating this Changeling who bought the lease on the huge-ass unit in the Promenade to open up a  _ bar  _ but also immediately sent out an ad for a  _ Ferengi  _ to run his  _ bar  _ because he doesn’t know  **how to** ” Cimona rambled. Odo mostly ignored her because he saw Ensign Aabbin coming towards him, clipboard in hand.

Mr. Odo, the Ferengi ship is docking!” He said excitedly. Odo felt his chest swell up and he looked down to make sure it wasn’t actually happening. 

“Abbie who's on it?” Asked Cimona. The ensign shrugged.

“I dunno, some Ferengi??” He replied. Cimona rolled her eyes. 

“How many of them?” Odo asked. The Ensign looked at his clipboard and flipped a few papers.

“It looks like three, but only one of them is scheduled to get off” He said. Odo nodded. Just then Odo saw the docking bay doors open and several people began to pour out. Odo stood up and walked slightly forward. He scanned the crowd for a Ferengi but couldn’t find one. Eventually, all the people dissipated and yet, no Ferengi. Odo sighed and turned to sit back down on the bench.

“THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE RIP OFF” yelled a voice from the docking bay. Odo quickly turned around and tried to contain the smile on his face. 

“YOU SAID IT WAS GOING TO COST ONE BAR NOT THREE” yelled the voice some more. Odo stopped trying and was openly beaming. The voice kept getting louder as it came closer and Odo felt like he might pass out.

Eventually, the angry Ferengi stepped out onto the Promenade. Odo tried to take him all in at once. He was wearing a really nice suit, bright orange. His mouth, which was yelling at his pilot, had a row of gruesomely sharp teeth. His eyes, which had now landed on Odo were a pale green. 

It wasn’t Quark.

“Hello are you O? I am so excited to get to know you on this  **grand** business venture of ours” The Ferengi said as he extended his hand. Odo felt his entire person sag in defeat. He didn’t even extend his hand. The Ferengi only smiled more and took back his hand. 

“Not a touchy guy, I totally get that, not much for touching myself. The name is Gorabor, your new business partner” He said. Odo did not respond. He knew that it was a long shot, but long shots had always seemed to work out for him. Nomram had even promised to make it easy this time.

“Now I was thinking we would discuss the cut for any profits we acquire  _ first.  _ That way things don’t get messy when the latinum starts pouring in.” Gorabor said. 

“I don’t want to discuss anything” Odo shot back with a somber tone. Gorabor smirked and smacked himself lightly on the head.

“You are right, so silly of me to discuss business before we even properly know each other….I know! Let’s do lunch! I haven’t been to DS9 before so you’ll have to show me all the hot spots” Gorabor said with a wink that made Odo want to vomit.

“I don’t eat” Odo just flatly said back. He really needed to ditch this guy. Gorabor continued to smile sickly at him.

“How silly of me to suggest it then….maybe a quick round of Dabo? You can tell a lot about a man based on his Dabo strategy” Gorabor said, with a slight shimmy to his shoulders. Odo wrinkled his nose in disgust. Was it something Quark would have said? Yes. Is it off-putting? Yes. Would it have been as off-putting if Quark had said it? No, but Odo was allowed to have his biases. 

“I don’t think you unde-”

“Sir, do you want your bags delivered to your room?” Said another Ferengi who had just come in through the docking bay doors. 

“Well I don’t want them on the docking bay floor you idiot” Gorabor said. Odo glanced down at the small Ferengi. He was struggling to carry the six or so bags that Gorabor had brought with him. He was in a plain green suit and was struggling to hold everything given that he was easily a foot shorter than Odo.

  
  
  


Quark

  
  
  
  


“Sir, would you like to go into business with me?” Odo asked the struggling Ferengi. The Ferengi whipped his head around, confused that Odo was even talking to him. 

“Huh” He said. Odo chuckled. He didn’t know how he had missed him coming in. Out of all of Quark’s reincarnations, this one looked almost eerily similar to him. There were some differences here in there, but they could have been brothers (or maybe this was one of Rom’s descendants...which is a thought he didn’t want to think about). 

“Hey O, he’s not your new business partner, I am. I’m sorry if I didn’t make it quite  _ clear- _ ” Said Gorabor, injecting himself into the conversation. Odo quickly whipped around to glare at him.

“You’ve been rejected, please go back to whatever hole you crawled out of please” Odo nearly growled. He then turned his attention back to Quark, who was  _ very  _ confused.

“What” he said. Odo smiled at him.

“I’m asking you if you would like to go into business with me. You don’t have to put up any money, I just need someone to help run things” Odo asked again. While he still looked confused, Odo saw some spark in the Ferengi’s eye that he knew all too well.

“Are you sure you are talking to the right person?” He asked, he even sounded very similar to Quark. Odo nodded.

“Absolutely” Odo said. With that, the Ferengi smiled and dropped all of Gorabor’s bags. He then looked at Odo for a moment before running back to the docking bay door.

“I QUIT” He yelled down the bay. Then came charging back towards Odo. He just stared at Odo in disbelief, and Odo was sure he was doing the same back.

“Odo” Odo said as he lifted his hands up in the traditional Ferengi greeting. The Ferengi smiled back and returned the gesture.

“Quorin”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“So we’ll need two bricks of latinum for our rent and another three bars for our down payment. After that, we’ll need another five bars for stock, two bricks for equipment, and 4 bars to get our licenses squared away…...do you have all of that?” Quorin asked, making mentally tallies on mental spreadsheets. Odo shrugged.

“I think so” Odo said.

“Next” said the bank teller as the line moved up.

“What do you mean ‘you think’.....WHat the hell did you send out an ad for if you didn’t know you had all the money!” Quorin said in a harsh whisper. 

“I have some money from my first marriage and maybe a little from the second. That should be enough” Odo said. Enough as long as they hadn’t canceled his account due to inactivity, which would be right up a Ferengi bank’s alley.

“Next”

“I still don’t get you. You sent out an ad without knowing if you had the money or not. You want to open a bar despite barely ever being  _ in  _ a bar, and you choose me to be your business partner and the only experience I have with bars is that time I worked as a busboy for six months” Quorin ranted.

“You seem to know what you were talking about a minute ago” Odo said back. Quorin rolled his eyes.

“I’m not an idiot. I did complete my basic economics training” He said.

“Next” the teller said. Odo and Quorin stepped up to the counter. An older grubby Ferengi man glared at them.

“State your business” The teller squawked at them. Quorin grinned widely.

“We are here to check our account balance and make a withdrawal” He said. The teller glared at him.

“You don’t know the balance of your accounts?” The teller judged. Quorin’s eyes widened and he immediately started to fuss.

“Oh no not me. I’m sitting at a nice 15 bars...um  _ he  _ needs to know his balance” Quorin said pointing his thumb at Odo. The teller glared at Odo and Odo glared back at him.

“Ferengi banks are only for Ferengi” The teller shot back. Odo crossed his arms.

“I’m married in. My account number is 91823723043945266710896, just check it” Odo said firmly. The teller squinted at Odo, but turned to his padd and began to type in the numbers. Odo snuck a glance over to Quorin, who had already been looking at Odo. Quorin quickly turned away when he’d been “caught” and Odo smirked.

“You’re kidding me” The teller said. Odo turned his attention back to the teller.

“What” Odo asked. The teller typed some more on his padd, then sank back into his chair.

“You do in fact have an account, which….I need to look into that, especially since this says it was opened in 2385” The teller said.

“Wait wha-” Quorin started but was interrupted by the teller.

“If all of this information is accurate, which….I don’t see any traces of fraud….then your current account balance is two billion five hundred and forty-one million seven hundred and twenty-six thousand three hundred and forty-six bars, six strips, and 92 slips of latinum” The old teller read off. Odo suddenly felt a lot of eyes in the room turn to stare at him.

“H….how much” Quorin said next to him, the shock of the number making him lean against Odo for support.

“You heard what I said” The teller snapped back. Odo scrunched up his brow.

“That doesn’t make sense” Odo said. Quorin whipped around and lightly punch him in the side.

You're questioning it!! Don’t question that amount of money in your accounts!” Quorin said. The teller started to smile.

“Exactly what doesn’t make sense” The teller asked. 

“I didn’t have nearly that much 300 years ago, and I doubt a  _ Ferengi  _ interest rate is going to get me to that amount in even that long a period of time” Odo said. Quorin groaned and smacked his hands into his palms. The teller squinted at him and then back to the screen.

“It seems that the majority of the money was transferred into your accounts a few years ago. It’s the profits from sold stocks to the….Probert Energy Arms Corporation” The teller said, squinting at his padd. Odo couldn’t stop the chuckle that came out of his mouth. That damned old idiot.

“Where did you get stock in a weapons company!?” Quorin asked. Odo shrugged.

“Old flame” Odo said. Quorin huffed.

“I wish I had that much luck with my dates” Quorin shot back under his breath. Odo chose not to comment.

“Everything seems to be in order then, I’d like to make a withdrawal now please” Odo said. The teller looked at him and shook his head.

“ _ Noosa yop _ ” (Damned foreigners) The teller mumbled under his breath. Odo huffed.

“NanDI-man yoor-ee Grem in pip-em” (You can talk to me when you are as rich as me)

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Thanks to Odo’s seemingly endless supply of latinum and a certain go-gettum Ferengi, the new Quark’s went up without a hitch. Of course, it wasn’t called Quark’s. Quorin had fought it for a while but Odo insisted on naming the bar after him. Quorin resisted enough to be polite, but, like all good Ferengi, he couldn’t resist seeing his name in lights. 

Quorin’s was pretty popular on DS9. Quorin, despite his inexperience, seemed to be quite the lively entertainer. Odo would say that it came from an innate ability that all “Quarks” must have but more likely it was that Quark oversold the difficulty of his job. Odo relegated himself to working security, this time as a bouncer (which for the life of him he can never figure out why Quark never had one on the payroll). Things worked smoothly, just like Odo had wanted them too. This is what he had actually wanted. Things to just be like they used to for a little while.

“Come pull up a seat Odo” Quorin said to him late one night after they had closed. Odo did, sitting in Morn’s old spot. Whatever happened to Morn? Odo pushed the thought out of his mind as Quorin poured him a glass of…?

“What is that?” Odo asked as he stared at the red bubbly drink Quorin had poured him. 

“It’s latlh je HusHa” Quorin said. Odo just stared at him blankly. Quorin shrugged.

“It’s supposed to be Klingon champagne but honestly who knows” Quorin said as he poured himself a glass. Odo put his hand on the stem of the glass and swirled it a bit. There was DEFINITELY something organic floating around in there.

“You do know I don’t drink liquids” Odo said as he pushed the drink away. Quorin pushed it back as he picked his up.

“Surely you’ll make an exception for our anniversary” Quorin said with a smile. Odo glared at him but picked up the glass anyway. Quorin beamed and held up his glass.

“To our first year in business! May there be many more profit filled years ahead” Quorin said. Then he clinked his glass with Odo’s and downed the whole thing like a shot. Odo followed suit but only sipped his drink. Odo was thankful for that.

“fuCK ME…...that’s awful” Quorin said, wincing. Odo chuckled.

“Why didn’t you toast with something you actually liked?” Odo said trying not to laugh too hard at Quorin being extremely overdramatic.

“Because you have to toast with champagne and that stupid bachelorette party tonight wiped out our entire stock” Quorin said, now smacking his mouth and looking around for anything else to drink. 

“Computer, one glass of water please” Odo said to the replicator. A glass of water beamed into existence and Quorin quickly grabbed it and downed the whole glass. 

“Maybe it has a flavor profile that only Klingons can appreciate '' Odo suggested. Quorin has now panting, overdramatic bitch.

“Is that flavor  _ ass???”  _ He said, putting the cork on the bottle and shoved it back on the stock wall. Quorin then came back and leaned against the bar, looking at Odo. 

“You know…..when you originally offered to be partners, I messaged my sister and told her what was going on. She told me I was crazy” Quorin said.

“You were” Odo agreed. Quorin shrugged.

“I don’t think so...it was just something about you….I just knew that this was the direction I needed to go” Quorin said, with a little smile.

“Besides what would Relna know about good business decisions. Her profits are down 4%” He said smugly. Odo rolled his eyes. Quorin stopped smiling and looked Odo in his eyes.

“I think...I think what I’m trying to get at is...thank you for believing in me even though we had never met and I really wasn’t bringing anything to the table” Quorin said. Odo looked down at his glass and swirled the red liquid around some more. Yeah, there was something alive in there.

“I guess there was something about you that let me know that you were the direction I needed to go” Odo said into his drink, but eventually lifted his head up to look at him. Quorin looked like he’d just been shown a video of cute Rigelian swamp kittens.

“Was it my ass?” Quorin asked. Odo, trying to decide whether to laugh or grumble, paused a little too long. Quorin’s eyes lit up.

“I knew it, you dirty old shapeshifter” Quorin said. Both of them began to laugh. 

“Um...speaking of which” Quorin said, once the laughter had died down. Odo’s head snapped to attention. No way?

“I wanted to talk to you abo-”

“WHERE IS THE PARTY AT BOYS '' Yelled someone. Odo turned around and saw Cimon as she strutted into the bar carrying two bottles of Romulan ale. Behind here were three other Ensigns who seemed to have pre-gamed. Odo grumbled.

“There is no party. Go home” Odo said. He. Was. Busy. Cimona scoffed at him as she slung an arm around his neck. 

“Oh don’t be like that Odo, you're killing the mood” She said. Odo rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Cimona retaliated by planting a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

“You are drunk” Odo grumbled.

“Just tipsy my dude….eh Q get a couple of glasses and we’ll start this shin-dig” Cimona said as she planted the bottles on the bar. Odo looked to Quorin who was glaring at her.

“Why don’t you all have fun. I’m working breakfast tomorrow so I need to get some sleep” Quorin said, putting on a forced smile as he took his empty glasses and set them back in the replicator. 

“Quorin”

“No no no, go ahead, have fun” Quorin said as he waved Odo off and exited the nearly empty bar. Odo began to get up to go and follow him but was suddenly distracted by Cimona nearly dropping five shot glasses.

“Ah shit” She said, somehow managing to catch most of them. Odo sighed and extended a good arm quickly to catch the one plummeting to the floor. 

“Cimona” Odo said as he handed her the shot glass. Cimona giggled.

“What” she said as she set them down on the bar counter.

“You have the worst timing”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“Long night,” Quorin asked as Odo stepped up to the bar. Odo rolled his eyes. 

“No, I kicked them out after you left,” Odo said, leaning on the counter. Quorin, who was cleaning a glass with a rag, smacked his arm with said rag.

“I just cleaned that” Quorin whined. Odo sighed and stood up on his own.

“You know you didn’t have to leave” Odo said. Quorin shrugged and looked at his glass. 

“No...I thought you’d like to hang out with your friends” Quorin said, still whining.

“They aren’t my friends and it wasn’t their celebration. They all just wanted a reason for someone to have to peel them off the floor in the morning” Odo told him. Quorin huffed.

“On the floor.? I figured you’d probably end up in a bed” Quorin mumbled under his breath.

“Huh?” Odo asked, not having heard him. Quorin set his glass down.

“It's been slow this morning, I’m gonna go do some inventory” Quorin said, immediately turning tail and leaving Odo. Odo just stood there, not really knowing what had just happened.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  


Things went on like that for a week or so before Quorin seemed to get over whatever funk he had been in. Odo was glad for it. Nothing worse than a bitchy Ferengi. Besides, Odo had other things on his mind. 

He had finally decided that he needed to make his move on Quorin. Usually, he let “Quark” make the move, not wanting to force anything, but this was his turn. He’d been trying to find the right time. He was going to try at their little late-night toast but  _ someone  _ had to interrupt. He really didn’t want to wait another half a year for that to happen again, especially since  _ nothing _ was romantic about the second anniversary. He really was hesitant to ask Cimona or any of the other Ensigns, mainly because none of them could keep a secret. Everyone would know about Odo’s plans within a few hours. He also wanted to avoid all of his old anniversaries which he had somehow managed to do so far. The next clear date, that made sense at least, was a month away, during the Peldor festival. Normally Odo wasn’t one for Bajoran holidays, but it was better than some random Tuesday. 

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“Peldor joi!” said a very happy looking Bajoran as Quorin handed them their springwine. Quorin shot a quick glance over to Odo by the door. Odo saw him so Quorin waved him over. Quorin leaned over the bar, grinning.

“Whoever’s idea it was for this festival I just wanna kiss them. We’ve made a month’s worth of profit just today!” Quorin said, barely containing his excitement. Odo smirked.

“Well, Vedek Secen has been dead for over nearly 18,000 years so that might be a little difficult” Odo joked. 

“Doesn’t mean I can’t try” Quorin joked back, waving to a customer. Odo leaned away and chuckled to himself. Everything was going according to his plan. Once the festival was over, he and Quorin would count the profits. Then, while Quorin was sure to be in an incredible mood, he’d confess all of his feelings. Foolproof.

“Are you going to participate in the festival or just profit off of it?” Odo asked. Quorin shrugged.

“I hadn’t planned on it, nothing is really bothering me” Quorin shrugged. Odo crossed his arms.

“You have no problems?” Odo questioned. For as much as he whined about things, Odo would have thought that Quorin would have enough to fill up several renewal scrolls. Quorin looked at Odo.

“I mean...nothing...I mean I have a profitable business, a working replicator, and a great friend...what more could a Ferengi want” Quorin said with a smile. Odo huffed.

“That doesn’t sound like any Ferengi I know. There always seems to be some sort of crisis going on at any given moment” Odo said. Quorin rolled his eyes.

“oH, I’m sorry you want me to list all the  _ crises….. _ oh go get me the largest scroll you can  **find** ” Quorin said sarcastically. Odo chuckled. Quorin squinted at him.

“I don’t even know why you are asking me. It’s not like you ever participate in any of these things….or anything that is even remotely interesting” Quorin shot back. 

“If I have a problem, I fix it. I don’t send up offerings to Gods that I don’t believe in “ Odo said. Quorin rolled his eyes so hard Odo feared for his safety.

“Oh save it for someone who's less familiar with your bullshit Odo” Quorin groaned.

“I fix it my ass” Quorin mumbled loudly. Odo huffed. He’d missed this.

“You know you can just say that you think the whole thing is stupid, just don’t have to bring the Prophets into it. Some of our customers might overhear you and there go our profits for the week” Quorin grumbled. 

“A thousand-year-old changeling and Ferengi don’t believe in the Prophets!? How shall anyone recover from the shock” Odo said sarcastically. Quorin glared at him.

“I’m serious. These Bajorans take that kind of stuff seriously….maybe we should go burn some scrolls, just to keep up appearances” Quorin suggested. Odo lifted his brow.

“You want to participate in the festival?” Odo asked, trying to hide his genuine shock. Quorin shrugged.

“I mean….I’m a Ferengi...anything for profit right?....and  **you** are my business partner so if I do something for the business then you need to join me” Quorin argued. Odo scoffed and took a long pause.

“Fine” Odo eventually conceded. Quorin looked surprised like he’d been hoping Odo would say no. Odo held back a smirk. Got ya.

“Ok fine….I’ll see you after hours...0300 hours?” Quorin asked. Odo nodded.

“0300”

  
  
  


~~~~~~~

  
  
  
  
  


“About time you got here” Quorin said as Odo walked up to the temple entrance.

“We work at the same place, you just ran ahead of me” Odo said as he stood next to Quorin. Quorin shrugged.

“Whatever, ready to go in” Quorin said. Odo nodded and they walked in together. Odo hadn’t been inside the DS9 temple since….well since Jadzia had died. It didn’t look that much different. Religious tradition doesn’t change that often. The deep earth tones contrasted the sleek Federation colors nicely and made this place feel especially Bajoran. The temple was decorated with ancient-looking purple banners and other silver decorations. 

“I’ve never been inside here” Quorin said looking around, probably pricing the entire joint. 

“I haven’t been here in a long time” Odo said back. Quorin shuffled awkwardly. 

“So...what do we do?” Quorin said. Odo looked around and finally saw two large bins full of scrolls and sleek purple pins. Odo pointed to it.

“You go get one of those, write all of your life problems on it, then we burn them” Odo said. Quorin nodded and went over to the bins. He picked up a scroll and unraveled it. Odo walked over and did the same. Odo sat down and began to scribble a few quick things down on the paper.

  
  


**_There are far too many drunks on this station_ **

**_The Starfleet Ensigns have “adopted” me and I wish I could emancipate myself_ **

**_I keep getting emails from Ferengi businesses trying to get me to invest in their scams_ **

**_My bucket has a broken handle_ **

Odo wrote all of these down in fairly quick succession. No need to actually go deep. Well…

  
  


**_I’m single_ **

  
  


Odo smirked as he wrote that down. Hopefully, that wouldn’t be the case much longer.

“Single?” Quorin said in disbelief. Odo quickly turned around and saw Qourin peering over his shoulder.

“You aren’t supposed to read other people’s scrolls Quorin” Odo said, setting his scroll down. 

“Oh sorry” Quorin said, not sincerely at all. He got up from his spot on the floor and began to stalk over toward Quorin. Quorin’s face fell and he began to back away from Odo.

“What does your scroll say Quorin?” Odo asked as he got closer. Quorin backed away.

“Nothing….you are supposed to read other people’s scrolls Odo” Quorin said, bumping into a wall. 

“You read mine, seems only fair” Odo said as he reached out a hand to grab Quorin’s scroll. Quorin ducked and scooted along the wall. Odo blocked his path with his body and snatched the scroll. Quorin began to jump on him but Odo just extended his arm out of his reach, and he didn’t even need to use his abilities. 

“Odo stop….THIS IS AN INVASION OF PRIVACY” Quorin screamed. Odo rolled his eyes as he held the Ferengi back with ease. Odo unrolled the scroll as Quorin attempted to climb Odo.

  
  


**_Moogie wants me to bail Relna out of debt_ **

**_Federation taxes_ **

**_Odo is dating Cimona_ **

Odo felt the smirk on his face fall. He stopped trying to fight off Quorin, but at this point, Quorin had stopped trying to get at the scroll. Odo just stared at the scroll in confusion. He felt Quorin back away and run somewhere.

“Quori-”

“Just leave it alone Odo” Quorin nearly yelled across the room. 

“I don’t….Cimona and I are not dating...where did you even get that idea?” Odo said, utterly confused as to how all of this had happened. Quorin turned slightly. 

“What do you mean ‘where did you get that idea!’....she kissed you Odo!” Quorin said, turning around fully. Odo saw now that he was also crying.

“Kissed me??? When?” Odo asked. Quorin hastily wiped his face, only for more tears to fall down his face.

“On our anniversary...she came in and kissed you, right in front of me Odo” Quorin said, very distressed. Odo tried to remember….was...was he talking about when she kissed him on the cheek?

“Quorin….that was on the cheek...plus she was half drunk. I didn’t even do anything back if anything I think I tried to shove her off” Odo argued. Quorin shook his head.

“But you act all….couply. She’s always hanging around you and...and...to the Vault Odo she’s all over you half the time” Quorin said. Odo frowned. They always had to be like Quark. Even their insecurities about Odo’s short-haired female friends. 

“Quorin, I promise you. I have never and I will never be interested in Cimona. She is just a friend and an annoying one at that” Odo said, trying to calm him down. Quorin just glared at Odo.

“You are just fucking with me because you know-”

“How am I fucking with you? I wrote down that I was single before I even knew you thought that?” Odo argued. Quorin squinted at him.

“Then you just recently broke up” Quorin said. Odo rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. 

“Quorin I’m not going to play this game with you. Cimona and I are not a thing, you can go throw a party or something because one of your problems in gon…...wait...why was that a problem?” Odo began to rant but stopped himself. Quorin’s sad face immediately turned into a panicked one. 

“It’s not important” He said, wringing his hands together. Odo tilted his head and moved closer towards him.

“Harboring any ill will against Romulans?” Odo asked. Quorin shook his head and back away.

“Was my made-up relationship getting in the way of business?” Odo asked. Quorin stopped backing up and sighed.

“Odo...just drop it” Quorin said. Odo stopped moving in. Any closer and they’d be nose to nose. 

“No”

“FINE” Quorin whining loudly in Odo’s face. Suddenly, Odo felt his face being gripped on both sides. He was shoved forward and his face was pressed up against Quorin’s. The sensation of Quorin’s mouth on his didn’t hit Odo til far too late. By the time Odo regained his presence of mind, Quorin was pulling away. Quorin started up at Odo.

“That's why I have a problem with you dating Cimona” Quorin said. Odo’s mouth was parted open and he didn’t exactly know how to respond. 

“You…” Odo tried.

“I love you” Quorin said, looking like he hadn’t meant to blurt that out. Odo’s brow rose in surprise.

“How...how long?” Odo eventually asked. Quorin tried to look down but Odo put a hand under his chin and made him look at him again.

“I mean...I’ve wanted to kiss you since we first met...you’re hot in like a beige...goo...no-distinct-facial-features way” Quorin said. Odo frowned.

“That’s not an answer” Odo grumbled. Quorin sighed pointedly.

“I don’t know Odo...it just sort of happened?...maybe around the time when we first started turning a profit. I loved building our business and working together….then I realized that if you left and it was just me...I’d hate my life because you are what makes every day of my life so great. I could be destitute….but I’d be ok as long as I have you. Then I realized I was fucked because there was no way you saw me in that way. But then at the bar that night I thought...but then Cimona showed up-”

“You think too much” Odo said. Quorin let out a soft laugh. Odo leaned in and kissed Quorin again. It felt amazing. Odo hadn’t kissed anyone since….since Miasha??? Prophets Odo needed this. Apparently, Quorin needed it too, if the large moan he gave out was anything to go by. Odo quickly pulled away, much to Quorin’s disappointment.

“I don’t think we should start making out in a Bajoran temple” Odo said. Quorin smirked and shrugged.

“I mean I’ve done worse” He joked and leaned in for another kiss. Odo allowed a short one but pulled away again.

“So have I but if we get caught then we’ll probably get kicked off the station” Odo explained. Quorin leaned in close and widened his smirk.

“Then we just won’t get caught” He said, trying to deepen his voice. Odo found this very amused but decided to call his bluff.

“Oh trust me Quorin...the things I’m going to do to you….we’re going to get caught” Odo said, also deepening his voice. Quorin paused and stared at him before a shiver ran down his body. Odo chuckled to himself. 

“Would you like to go?” Odo asked. Quorin nodded his head. Odo smirked. Odo let go of his grip on Quorin and Quorin did the same. Then they walked out of the temple.

Together

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Things with Quorin were as close to paradise as Odo could have imagined. It had everything he had ever wanted in a partner. They had arguments all the time, they loved each other deeply, and this time around Odo didn’t feel like if he did his job too well he’d throw his partner in jail. 

Cimona had been overjoyed when she found out. Finally, she didn’t have to watch her “best friend” swoon over his co-worker all day. Odo didn’t agree that he had “swooned” on anything for any length of time, but he appreciated the sentiment. 

It felt like the old days again. Quorin was similar to Quark in ways that the other versions of him had not even come close to. Maybe that was just Odo seeing things, but to him it was true. 

Of course, it wasn’t excellent all the time. They had their fair share of meaningless fights that turned into actual fights. Odo had kicked and had been kicked out of their shared quarters more than a few times. However, they always seemed to make up within a few hours, if not within the hour. 

Even running the bar wasn’t half as bad as Odo had expected it to be. The interactions with people was the part Odo had dreaded most, and as long as he kept up an intimidating figure people seemed to leave him alone. Plus it was great to see his people-person in his element. Making drinks, talking to customers, solving life crises, and all while making social interaction look effortless. Ten years of this and he still hasn’t grown tired of watching it. 

Over a thousand years and he still wasn’t tired of watching it.

Of course, it all had to end.

  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


“I ca...I can’t believe she’s gone” said a nearly sobbing engineering lieutenant. Quorin patted his back and looked awkwardly around the bar for any other Starfleet people.

“I know, it really is a shame” Quorin added. The engineer looked up, almost offended.

“A shame!! She was only 23….” He said. Quorin nodded.

“Excuse me, poor choice of words” Quorin supplied. The engineer's lip began to quiver. Quorin looked around the room again and saw two security ensigns relaxing in a booth towards the back of the bar. 

“She didn’t even go quickly. They told me it took her five minutes to die” He sobbed again into the metal bar. Quorin tightened his lips together in an awkward frown/smile. He tried to subtly wave over the two officers, but they didn’t notice him. Time for Plan B. Quorin started looking around for Odo. He wasn’t near the door like normal. 

“We were gonna get married in a few months” He said again, thing time snorting up what Quorin knew to be approximately a gallon of snot. Quorin looked around again and eventually saw Odo peering over the second level. Quorin waved like a maniac till he eventually got Odo’s attention. Odo saw him and immediately went for the spiral stairs. As Odo approached the bar, Quorin began mouthing what he wanted him to do.

“WE...WERE….GONNA...HAVE….KIIIIIDS '' The engineer sobbed again, this time grabbing hold of Quorin’s arm and wiping his face on his sleeve. Quorin stopped giving directions and winced. Odo didn’t need to see anymore.

“Sir” Odo said as he came up behind the man. He ignored him.

“Sir” Odo said a little more forcefully. He ignored him again. Odo frowned and looked at Quorin, who was still trying to extract his arm.

“Sir you need to let go of him” Odo said as he gently grabbed the man’s shoulder. Suddenly, the engineer whipped around to face Odo.

“DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME” He yelled Odo let go of him immediately. This outburst caught the attention of pretty much everyone in the bar, including the two security officers. 

“I DON’T WANT SOME GODDAMN ALIEN TOUCHING ME” He yelled. Odo wanted to point out that he was still holding onto Quorin, but that was probably not the best idea. 

“ALIENS TOOK AWAY JOSIE” He screamed again. Odo nodded his head.

“I’m sorry sir, but I think you need to leave” Odo said, starting his usual speech. The engineer shook his head.

“Oh no, I’m not FUCKING leaving….I want another god damn DRINK” He yelled, turning back to Quorin. Quorin put on a panicked smile.

“I think you have had enoug-” Quorin started

“NO”

“Synthale?” Quorin said, changing his tone to a pleasant ‘customer service’ voice. The engineer let go of Quorin’s arm and instead grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him forward over the bar.

“Get. Me. A. Saurian. Brandy” He growled into Quorin’s face and that was the last straw for Odo. He used both of his hands to grab the back of his uniform and pulled. The surprise made the engineer let go of Quorin.

“WHAT THE FU-GET OFF” He screamed as he tried to wriggle out of Odo’s grasp. Now the two security officers were rushing over to help.

“Hey Emmett, you need to calm down bud” One of them said as they came up to him. He stopped thrashing around momentarily. 

“Why don’t you come with us? We'll take you home” Said the other. He looked at them and started to sob again. The second security officer looked at Odo and nodded. Odo let him go. Emmett practically fell into the arms of the two security officers. Odo turned towards Quorin.

“Are you ok?” He asked, giving him a once over for any obvious injuries. Quorin was smoothing down the wrinkles in his jacket.

“I’m fine” He said. Odo nodded and turned to look at the engineer, who was now almost being dragged out of the bar by the security officers. 

  
  


“nnnnnnoooOOOOO” He yelled suddenly. He then got up and ripped himself away from the two officers. He then reached for his hip and pulled out his phaser. The entire bar started to duck under tables. Odo began to bat at Quorin to get him to hide under the bar.

“I don’t want to be without her” He said, as he began to hold the phaser up to his head. Odo took a step forward to try and talk him down, but this was a mistake. Emmett instinctively pointed his phaser at Odo and fired. 

Odo doesn’t remember much after that. He just remembers the sensation of not being whole and the sound of Quorin screaming.

  
  
  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


Odo woke up slowly. He started to regain feeling and consciousness and eventually his vision began to blur with light. After a long while, Odo opened his eyes and looked around. He did not recognize where he was and he certainly was not on DS9. Odo sat up and rested his weight on his arms. He was in a very large room which was covered floor to ceiling in gold. Odo looked all around him. Everything was gold. The floor, the plants, the light fixtures, the rug….

“Quen-....uq cuumaks tin” (Welco-.....well this is new) said a voice to Odo’s right. Odo turned to face them and saw one of the most beautiful Ferengi he had ever seen in his life.

“Pleik galjon-dak wan lala-palavan stumgal?” (Do they all look like you now or was this an unfortunate accident?) said the other Ferengi. Odo didn’t know how to respond. The Ferengi rolled their eyes.

“Me-dak gmeef vetsan-oo hombuo-y stin” (Whatever it doesn’t matter. Don’t you have something for me?) They said holding out their hand expectantly. Odo was even more confused. He didn’t  _ think _ he had anything to give this person. The Ferengi stood like that for a long time before sighing.

“Kenpod negs ferenfed” (Check your pockets ignoramus) the Ferengi said, pointing to Odo with their other hand. Odo took a minute before following their directions. His...his pockets weren’t real, he didn’t “carry” things. Nevertheless, Odo stuck his hand inside his pocket and much to his shock there was something inside. Odo pulled out a handful of slips of latinum. Odo deposited them on the floor and went back in and pulled another large handful of slips and put them in the pile. Then Odo did it again…. the amount in his pocket never seemed to get any smaller?

“rrrRRRRrrrr…..wan kaaj….pax-u-p ninas bzal-ti kipt glem-ooz  _ pod _ ” (oooOOOOoooo…..a success….we haven’t had one this rich in a  _ while _ ) he said with a little wiggle of excitement. Odo looked at him, then back at the latinum that was just pouring out of his pocket at this point. The Ferengi seemed annoyed by his pause.

“Astle huy-gom jiiem!” (Just bribe me already!) they said, getting huffy. Odo looked at him and then back at his pile. Odo scooped up two big handfuls together and got up on his feet. Then he walked over to the Ferengi and presented the latinum to them. The Ferengi smiled and held their hands under his. Odo dropped the latinum into their hands and they smiled wide.

Out of nowhere, Odo heard a large creaking sound and a big whoosh. Odo looked in the direction of the noise and saw two extremely large golden doors that were now open. Odo looked back at the Ferengi. He rolled his eyes.

“Nieep-uy guy…..zik saa-ca xaw-gim suuop Gimle wenos gidquin humm  _ rumbo _ spivan-van R-Gal” (Go through….if this is how you act at the Gates I don’t want to see you actually  _ in  _ the Divine Treasury). Odo turned his head back to the Ferengi.

“The Divine Treasury?!” Odo exclaimed. The Ferengi just stared at him, confused. Odo searched his brain for an explanation.

“Uh….saa-ca-van R-Gal?” (Uh….is this the Divine Treasury?) Odo asked. The Ferengi rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“Ft-rig hjum r’gum kamanaaz reis fak peek room? Pop paag-wn huy-gom guy Gimle” (How are you so rich if you are so dumb? Stop bothering me and just go through the Gates) The Ferengi grumbled as they pointed to the large golden doors again. Odo was  _ very  _ confused and did not particularly believe he was where he  _ appeared  _ to be. However, if he stayed here much longer, he wouldn’t put it past this Ferengi to take drastic action. Odo bowed slightly and curled his hands in respect. The Ferengi acknowledged him with a huff before waving him away. Odo began to walk towards the large golden doors. 

Odo had barely stepped past the threshold before his senses were assaulted.

“ODO ITAL!!!! Oh, how I have been waiting to meet you!” Said a nasally but booming voice. Odo looked in that direction and saw another ethereally attractive Ferengi, even more, beautiful than the one before. This one, however, was dressed far more extravagantly. They had a cloak that seemed to be made of pure liquid latinum that ebbed and flowed with the Ferengi’s movements. They also carried a large golden staff, not unlike the Nagal staff, but the head of this staff was just a bust of the Ferengi in question. 

It can’t be

“I honestly was worried you would take longer, but I’m glad you finally found some sense and DIED….I’ve heard so much about you!” The Ferengi said, almost  _ giddy.  _ Odo stared at him in disbelief.

“Are….are you speaking Standard?” Odo asked, wanting to avoid mentioning that he had just been referred to as “dead”.

“Oh I wasn’t sure if you knew Ferengi or not” They said, brushing it off like it was no big deal. Odo pointed back behind him.

“But...but that-”

“Oh THEM” They said as they rolled their eyes.

“They’re a stickler for the rules,  _ I,  _ however, am more flexible with my business practices” They said with a sickly grin. Odo dropped his hand and looked at the Ferengi in front of him up and down trying to find anything to explain what was going on other than the….well the frankly ridiculous answer. 

“Are...are you…” Odo ventured.

“The Blessed Exchequer? The Holy Accountant? They whose greed is eternal and the creditor to all those who navigate the Great Material Continuum?” They rambled on. Odo nodded.

“Yeah, him” Odo said simply. The Ferengi smirked.

“Yeah, that’s me. Different in person? I hear that all the time. I don’t get why they all think I’m a man?? Gender is gross” They said waving their hands about. Odo shrugged.

“Fair enough” Odo said. The Ferengi smiled and then rubbed his hands together.

“Now, let’s get down to business” They said. The Blessed Exchequer started to sprint over towards a grand golden desk that stood several feet higher than the top of Odo’s head. They went behind it and Odo heard several struggling noises until he finally saw the Blessed Exchequer take their spot on the desk. Before settling, the Exchequer pulled out a very small set of round glasses and put them on. Odo scrunched his face up in confusion, then he rolled his eyes. The Ferengi sense of aesthetic knew no bounds.

“Now, your accounts are….messy, but there's more than enough profit here to grant you a seat at the Celestial Auction” The Blessed Exchequer said as he poured over a large book and shuffled papers on his desk. Odo raised his hand. It took a moment for the Exchequer to notice.

“Yes?” They asked, peering over their glasses. 

“Why am I here? I don’t believe in you…..I don’t even believe in profit or greed” Odo said. The Exchequer nodded. 

“Now see that is that dang issue isn’t it” They said, leaning back into their chair. 

“No we’ve had non-Ferengi before, the Continuum isn’t xenophobic, but I’d like to believe it is a baseline requirement that you at least  _ believe  _ in the Continuum” They said. Odo hoped he wasn’t supposed to try and guess as well. It had been a long while since he’d studied the Ferengi religions to any depth. 

“You don’t know what the requirements are…..that seems like something you should know, if not you are the  _ only  _ one who knows” Odo questioned. The Blessed Exchequer shrugged.

“I just showed up here one day, it’s not like anyone handed me a rulebook” They said. That made Odo uneasy but he decided to ignore it.

“Maybe we take all those who truly value profit” The Exchequer muses, seeming to have found the answer.

“I don’t value profit” Odo said, dashing their hopes. They huffed but raised a browridge.

“Then maybe we take those who value things  _ like  _ profit. People and beings who value others or beliefs that are in their own way profitable, but may not return that profit on their own lives, in so much as there is a clear dichotomy between gain and loss, or they even profit via valuing another who values profits even to the extent of valuing that profit more than the previous debtor, profit would then derive from a metaphysical belief in the inherent nature of the great imbalance and the importance of greed to ensure that the scales are never even but always tilt in your favor!” The Blessed Exchequer rambled. Odo had gotten lost somewhere around the word  _ dichotomy _ and refused to try and find the conversational thread again. 

“Huh” Odo said oh so eloquently. The Blessed Exchequer shrugged.

“I don’t know, I thought I had something but I think I just got too excited” They admitted. Odo rolled his eyes.

“Well we can stand here and chew the grub fat all day but when it comes down to it it doesn’t really matter. I’m just glad I finally get to meet you” They said.

“Are you always this excited to meet new... _ dead people?”  _ Odo asked. If they were, Odo really didn’t know how they’d ever built up such an imposing self-image. The Blessed Exchequer huffed and let out a small barky laugh.

“Oh please, most of the people that pass through here are downright bastards. I’ve even fudged the records a few times just to send some of the worst ones to the Vault” They admitted. 

“Then why do you care?” Odo asked. 

“Well I’ve heard your name a bunch in the past few years and I don’t hear a lot of repeat names” They said. Odo furrowed his brow.

“Who-”

“Who do you think?” They said with a knowing smirked.

“...oh” Odo said, nodding his head. 

“They never shut up about you. They always want to know where you are or what’s going to happen to you or if they’ll get to see you again. Eventually, I started to get curious too” They admitted. Odo felt a warm heat bloom inside his chest. They do remember….in their own way.

“I was hoping to see what was so damn special but beyond the whole….goo thing I don’t see a whole lot” They said, scoffing to themselves. Odo rolled his eyes.

“I guess they just have bad taste” Odo joked. The Exchequer looked down at him.

“Or you have bad taste, going back so many times. I’d say it was luck but I don’t subscribe to that” They said. Odo shrugged.

“No matter now, it’s all over. So if you’ll just step through that door to your left you’ll be escorted to the Celestial Auction and handed your bid card” The Blessed Exchequer said as they returned to their paperwork. Odo frowned and did not move from his spot.

“Over….what do you mean it’s over….am I supposed to just….”

“Odo I don’t know why or how you are here, BUT you are here. And people who arrive here bid on their next life and rejoin the world. That’s the way things are done and that’s what is going to happen to you” They said. Odo’s mouth fell open.

“What! But that can’t happen. I always….how am I supposed to find him again….I’M NOT A FERENGI” Odo yelled. The Blessed Exchequer flicked a glare at Odo and straightened up in their chair.

“We’re all Ferengi deep down” They said flatly. 

“Go through the doors Odo. I’ll see you again someday” They said, before turning back to their work. Odo stared at them for a few more moments before turning to the door. Like everything else in this hell nightmare place, it was solid gold. As Odo turned to look they began to part and Odo heard the sounds of a very lively auction going on. Odo looked through the door, but couldn’t bring himself to walk through. This is what he’d wanted, essentially. He wanted out. This was out. He’d have no memory of being a Changeling or anything that had happened to him over the years. No Quark either. That’s why Odo had never really walked away. Odo took a deep breath in, unsteady in the fact that the next time he did that it would be with real lungs in an ascending rib cage. Odo took a step forward.

“WAIT”

Odo whipped around. He saw the Blessed Exchequer scrambling down from their desk and sprinting over to Odo. When they got close enough, they grabbed onto Odo’s arm.

“How much profit do you have?” They nearly yelled at him. Odo scrunched up his face.

“Isn’t that your job?” Odo asked. The Exchequer glared at him.

“I’m a God Odo, and this is no time to mess with me, I’m trying to help you” They said as they let go of his arm and raced back to their desk. Again Odo watched as they scrambled up the ostentatious desk and settled themselves on top. Odo glanced back at the open doors and began to walk away. As he did, they began to slowly close and the noise was silenced. Odo smirked and turned back to the Blessed Exchequer who was madly flipping through their book. 

“So you’ve accumulated 2.5 billion bars of latinum WHICH QUALIFIES YOU FOR OUR BILLIONAIRES DISCOOOOOOUNT” The Blessed Exchequer screamed with excitement. All of this caught Odo off guard and his flinched at the loud noise.

“The what?” Odo asked. The Blessed Exchequer turned to him and smiled.

“So I noticed a few millennia ago that extremely rich Ferengi actually were not getting enough credit for the lives they had led. They would go into the Celestial Auction with billions of bars, but they were always leaps and bounds ahead of the others. They’d win the best lives, often at the highest prices, but they’d always have millions if not billions left over. So I got together with the Celestial Auctioneers and worked something out. If your life profits calculate over 2 billion, then you can spend that extra money on  _ permanent  _ life upgrades!” They said very excitedly. Odo nodded along.

“And you can just….do that?” Odo asked.

“Odo….no rulebook, I already told you that” They said in annoyance. 

“Permanent life upgrades are your reward for living an extremely profitable life. You did so well in this life that you should feel the effects of that life in your remaining lives” They said. Odo nodded.

“What exactly are these upgrades?” Odo said. The Exchequer smiled.

“Well the most popular ones are ‘never fall into destitution’ and ‘always ensure you are born male’ but we have more options like ‘always die of old age’ or even…..well it’s not very popular so I shouldn’t even mention it” They said. Odo huffed.

“ **_Exchequer_ ** ” He grumbled. The Blessed Exchequer puffed out a laugh.

“There is an option that allows you to choose one person that you will always encounter in your lives, no matter what” They said. Odo stopped frowning.

“It’s not very popular, we’ve only had one Ferengi choose it so far” They said with a knowing smile. 

“I want that” Odo couldn’t say fast enough. He felt a sensation in his chest that he could only equate to a frantically beating heart. That’s why. Quark had never given up on him. He probably spent that one life gaining as much profit as he could so he could spend the rest of them with Odo. Odo felt like he could cry.

“Very well. I will notify the Celestial Auctioneers of your situation and your lives will be adjusted accordingly” The Blessed Exchequer said as he leaned back into their chair, a smirk on their face. Odo smiled. The large golden doors to the Celestial Auctionhouse opened again and the noises of the auction filled the room. Odo turned towards it, no longer afraid of what was on the other side. He began to walk towards it but stopped. Odo turned around to face the Blessed Exchequer again.

“Can I make one final request?” Odo asked. The Blessed Exchequer looked at him incredulously.

“What now?” They asked, putting on their dumb glasses again.

“Can I wait for him?” Odo asked. The Blessed Exchequer lowered his glasses to squint at Odo.

“That’s not a regular procedure around here. Ferengi don’t have contact with one another in the afterlife” They said. Odo huffed.

“Oh, I’m sorry….My mistake, I didn’t read the rulebook” Odo said, with a smirk. The Blessed Exchequer furrowed his brow and tried to look mad, but was failing.

“Very well Odo” They said as they returned to their work, chuckling under their breath. Odo smiled and turned towards the golden Gates of the Diving Treasury.

He could wait just a little longer.

  
  


~~~~~~~~~

  
  
  


_ “ Quark” _

_ “....Odo” _

**Author's Note:**

> Wasn't that something. Again please go check out peacefulspock. Their art is awesome and they do a lot of Quodo content which is both blessed and cursed. Also, thanks to my roommate who wrote a 30 page Endgame fix-it fic that inspired me to one up her ass by about 82 pages. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
